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The Thanksgiving Dinner. — Page 302. 







JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


A STORY OF TAKKEE FLOCK 


(For all Boys and some OirU) 


BY 

MARTHA JAMES 

Author of “My Friend Jim,” and “Tom Winstone, 
‘ Wide AAvake ’ ” 


ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES COPELAND 



BO'STON 

LEE AND SHEPARD 
1904 


Published August, 1904 


LIBRARY nf CONGRESS 
INvo Oootes Recetved 


AUG 22 190A 
OooyrffM Entry 



COPY B 


Copyright, 1904, by Lee and Shepard 


All righU reserved 


Jack Tenpield’s Stab 


• • • 

morwoob 

Berwick and Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass. 

U. S. A. 



V 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

A Change of Fortune . 




PAGE 

I 

11. 

Jack’s Secret . 




15 

III. 

A Few Incidents 




27 

IV. 

Keeping House . 




38 

V. 

A Strange Visit 




52 

VI. 

A Night’s Adventure 




63 

VII. 

Busy Days 




74 

VIII. 

Horn Point 




84 

IX. 

Sun Island 




91 

X. 

An Unexpected Guest 




99 

XI. 

A Change of Plans 




III 

XII. 

Old Friends 




121 

XIII. 

A Journey and a Regatta 




129 

XIV. 

Jack Has a Surprise 




146 

XV. 

At Work . . . 




154 

XVI. 

Concerns Nannie 




161 

XVII. 

Jack Loses His Temper and 

Something Else 


169 

XVIII. 

Jack Takes a New Position 

. . , 



175 

XIX. 

A New Cap and What Followed 



182 

XX. 

An Unexpected Meeting 

. 



191 

XXI. 

Good-bye to the “Suzanne” 

j 

• • 

, 

198 


VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER page 

XXII. Going North 205 

XXIII. Jack’s First Bear-hunt 216 

XXIV. The Mate’s Story 223 

XXV. An Adventure in the Woods .... 230 

XXVI. A Change of Scene 240 

XXVII. Thinking it Over 249 

XXVIII. In the “ Knockabout ” 256 

XXIX. A Present 264 

XXX. A Letter 272 

XXXI. Brother and Sister 277 

XXXII, Thanksgiving 289 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Thanksgiving Dinner {Frontupiece) 

Aunt Cordelia .... surveyed Nannie very much 

as if examining some new species 

‘^When my pal comes back, we’ll see yer won’t 

make any more trouble” 

The boys headed for their camp to begin house- 
keeping 

don’t want it. I can work,” cried Jack . . . 

Jack was trembling with excitement as he took 
aim again 


Page > 

302 


12 




68 

91 

120 y 


218 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


CHAPTER I 

A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 

“ Twenty-five dollars/' 

The Professor shook his head, pausing slightly after 
each word. I am sorry that I cannot give it to you." 

Jack was silent. It was the first time in his life that 
a request for money on his part had been refused. 

How old are you now, my boy? " asked the Pro- 
fessor, seeing a shade of disappointment spread over 
the lad’s features. 

“ I am fifteen, sir." 

“ Fifteen. Well, Jack, you are old enough to know 
what I am going to tell you, although I fear you may 
not realize the full significance of it. You have always 
thought that your father was wealthy, have you not ? " 

“ Yes, sir. I thought he was quite rich." 

“ On the contrary, my boy, he died a poor man. 
Strange as it may seem to you, who have always had 
an abundance, if the Doctor were alive at this moment, 


2 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


he would be poor in this world’s goods. I will not go 
into details with you now, Jack,” he went on. It will 
suffice to say that he lost a fortune in a venture that 
promised well. He never realized the extent of his 
loss, till a week before his death, and I fear the knowl- 
edge hastened the end.” 

Isn’t there some money owed to my father ? ” asked 
the lad suddenly. 

Yes, there is a great deal of money due for pro- 
fessional services; there are, also, several sums' that he 
loaned at different times. But I fear I’ll never be able 
to collect much of it. I have often thought that many 
people imposed upon him, knowing his generous 
nature. I remember on one occasion saying so to 
him, but he only smiled in his good-natured way, and 
assured me that his patients meant to pay their bills;-' 
but could not because of misfortune and poverty.” 

‘‘ I have heard that father never sent one of them a 
bill,” ventured Jack. 

“ Ah ! my boy, your father was generous to a fault — 
to a fault,” repeated the Professor. “ Well, we must 
see what can be done,” he went on after a pause. I 
have had an offer for the horses, and Hitchcock will 
take the Jersey.” 

Must the horses be sold? ” asked Jack quickly. 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


3 


I am afraid they will have to go. I hope we can 
save this fine old place,” continued the man, glancing 
through the open window at the tulip beds and the 
broad stretch of green beyond, “ but it is heavily 
mortgaged, and we may have to part with it. Your 
aunt is the real owner now. I have been informed by 
a recent letter that she will leave Europe in a few 
months and will probably be in America this winter, 
so for the present, at least, there may be no change ; 
but what I want to impress on you, my boy, is the fact 
that in your present circumstances twenty-five dollars 
is not easily obtained and should not, under any cir- 
cumstances, be idly spent. You see. Jack, you are not 
rich, at least not in a material sense.” 

The Professor smiled as he made the last remark, 
but the face of the boy who listened was very sober. 

“ I am going now,” said the man, adjusting his 
spectacles, but I will talk with you again about the 
change in your affairs.” 

Professor Lesch, the cousin and life-long friend of 
the deceased Dr. Tenfield, walked slowly out of the 
study, and left the boy standing at the window. 

It was a morning of spring showers, but the lad 
was not looking at the rain, nor was he thinking of 
the picture that was before his eyes — a picture that 


4 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


the reader may have seen if he happened to live a few 
years ago in that part of Roxbury that borders on 
Brookline. 

In the days when the horse-cars jingled their way 
from our most beautiful suburb to the Old Granary 
Burying Ground, they passed an old-fashioned yellow 
mansion. A long driveway, shaded by elms, curved 
its way to a vine-covered porch. Green fields stretched 
away from its broad piazzas, and an orchard of russet 
apple trees on the side of the house skirted the road-side 
for nearly a quarter of a mile. 

The fields have disappeared. They have become part 
of one of our broad avenues, over which the electric 
cars speed to the subway. 

Rows of apartment houses glare down on the site 
of the russet apple orchard, and all that remains of the 
old mansion are two stone gate-posts and a bit of green 
pasture land. 

The boys of the neighborhood play foot-ball on the 
site of the house, long since torn down, and practise 
jumping over the stone posts. 

At the time of my story, the yellow house, with its 
fields and bright gardens, was a beautiful old place, 
and the home of the wide-awake boy whose story I am 
going to tell you. 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


5 


Jack Tenfield wanted twenty-five dollars. He 
thought he wanted it more than anything else in the 
world. Standing at the window on that spring morn- 
ing, his mind was filled with visions and schemes and 
ventures concerning the means to obtain this sum of 
money. But, in spite of a fertile imagination and the 
busiest pair of hands in Christendom, Jack was unable 
to do it. 

Suddenly the lad’s thoughts were interrupted by the 
appearance of a barefooted girl, who cried, “ Oh, Jack, 
I have such news — guess.” 

“ What is it ? ” asked the boy without looking at 
her. 

‘‘ I shan’t tell you, till you stop gazing out of that 
window and condescend to look at me.” 

“ Well, let’s hear it,” said Jack, glancing at his 
sister in an absent kind of way. 

Give you three guesses,” said Nannie, who liked 
to get Jack interested, and then keep him in suspense. 

“ Oh, bother ! ” exclaimed the boy, “ tell it, why 
don’t you — I’m busy.” 

“ Busy doing nothing,” laughed Nannie, '' but you 
do look terribly sober — anything the matter ? 

“ The bright side, the bright side, 

My brother, is always the right side.” 


6 


JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


Nan was given to rhyming, and sang the above 
words to a tune all her own. 

“ If you have anything to tell, Nan, tell it.’’ 

Well, then, old sober face,” cried the girl, looking 
more mischievous than ever, ‘‘ Aunt Cordelia is coming, 
she’s expected any minute. Isabelle has just had a 
telegram. Now, Jack, I’ve been having lots of fun 
on your raft, and took off my shoes and stockings, 
but I don’t know where I left them. Did you meet a 
little shoe or two, that’s what I would like to know, 
because Isabelle says I must find them at once.” 

“ Why, I thought Aunt Cordelia was in Europe,” 
said Jack, ignoring Nannie’s question. 

She was there until a week ago. Oh, Jack, she’s 
as rich as a king — just fancy the good times we’ll have 
— I haven’t had one cent to spend for weeks. Aren’t 
you glad she’s coming — aren’t you joyful ! Oh, dear ! 
don’t be so stupid — turn around and say something, 
even if it hurts you.” 

Jack faced Nannie, after this outburst, a gleam of 
interest in his eyes. It occurred to him that if a rich 
aunt were coming, the twenty-five dollars did not seem 
so far off. 

I had forgotten about her being so rich, Nan. Let 
us hope she arrives safe and sound, and the sooner the 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 7 

better. It’s a lucky thing she’s coming just at this 
time,” Jack added soberly. 

‘‘ Why ‘ this time ’ ? ” asked the girl. 

Don’t you know that we are poor ; that father lost 
a great deal of money before he died? ” 

‘‘ Ah ! ” said Nannie, “ that must have been why 
Isabelle was crying when the Professor left her this 
morning. I suppose he told her about it.” 

“ Yes ; it’s too bad,” murmured Jack. 

“ Pooh ! ” cried Nan, “ who cares whether we’re 
rich or poor ! I wouldn’t cry about it.” 

‘‘ But everything is going to be sold. Nan. How will 
you like that ? ” 

I hope they won’t include my shoes — I own only 
one pair — but. Jack,” cried the girl, looking serious 
for a second, “ don’t you think that everything will be 
made right when Aunt Cordelia comes ? ” 

I hope so,” was the answer. 

“ I wonder what she is like,” cried Nan. Nora 
says she has not seen you or me since we were babies — 
I have been thinking of her all the morning — ^perhaps, 
Jack, she’ll bring us a lovely present.” 

I wish she’d bring me a present of twenty-five 
dollars,” said Jack. 

‘‘ What do you want it for ? ” asked Nan. 


8 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


“ That's a secret. Perhaps I may tell you later, but 
at present nobody knows anything about it except 
Burge Tebbett." 

‘‘ Burge Tebbett ! ” exclaimed the girl ; why, when 
did you see Burge Tebbett? " 

Not since last October, when we left Horn Point, 
but I had a letter from him this morning." 

Did you? " cried Nan, greatly interested. How 
are all the folks down there? Wouldn’t I just 
like to see them now, and have the good times 
again ! ’’ 

I was afraid that we might not see it this summer," 
said Jack, when I heard the news about father’s 
fortune, but now that Aunt Cordelia is coming I guess 
we’ll go." 

‘‘ Of course we’ll go," cried Nan. “ Why ! wouldn’t 
it be a queer summer, if we didn’t browse in that old 
place. I think I could find my way around it blind- 
folded; couldn’t you?" 

Before Jack could answer, there was a sound of 
wheels in the driveway, and with one bound Nannie 
was out of the room and across the wet lawn to look 
for her shoes in the barn. Not finding them, she ran 
back to the piazza and stood in full view of the coach, 
her happy little heart beating faster at the thoughts of 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 9 

an aunt who was going to be a sort of fairy godmother 
to the whole family. 

Visions of a beautiful lady, in silks and jewels, 
stepping from her carriage, with smiles of welcome, 
came into Nannie’s romantic little head, as she gazed 
at the coach, which had stopped at the front steps, 
and the black driver who was helping the lady to 
alight. 

Alas, for Nannie’s bright picture! The lady was 
not beautiful. She wore a faded drab skirt, a black 
cape, heavily beaded, and an old-fashioned bonnet. 
She gave some orders to the coachman in a quick, de- 
cided manner, mounted the steps, and never glanced at 
the girl who was standing in the rain to give her 
welcome. 

Nannie’s first impulse was to run into the house and 
make herself known, but she felt a little timid after the 
first glimpse of the newly arrived relative, and remem- 
bering Isabelle’s orders to put on her shoes and stock- 
ings, she started once more for the barn to make a 
more thorough search. 

Having looked about in vain for several minutes, 
Nannie hurried back to the house, and reached the 
piazza quite breathless. She stood for a second, look- 
ing into one of the low, broad windows that opened 


10 JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 

into the sitting room, where her sister Isabelle was 
reading. 

Don't come in here with your wet feet,” cried the 
girl, looking up from her book, a frown of disapproval 
on her fair young face. 

I can't leave them outside, can I ? '' said the owner 
of the bare feet, at the same moment raising the 
window and stepping lightly into the room. 

Nannie Tenfield, you ought to be ashamed of your- 
self ; the idea of a great girl like you going about bare- 
footed ! '' 

“ Well, I'm not the least bit ashamed,” was the 
saucy answer.” 

“ I know that very well,” said the young lady, you 
don't possess any such civilized quality.” 

“ It isn't shame I feel, Belle — it’s remorse. I've lost 
my nice, friendly old shoes. I hate new shoes, 'cause 
they're not a bit friendly ; they’re full of spite and pinch 
my feet.” 

Please do not make such idiotic remarks, Nannie ; 
they are not at all becoming. You had better get some 
shoes at once, and put them on before Aunt Cordelia 
sees you.” 

Where is she? ” asked Nan in subdued tones. 

“ She’s gone to her room to rest. I hope she won't 


A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 


I 


find you looking like an Indian. You ought to change 
your dress before she comes down — comb your hair 
and — Nannie, what are you trying to do? '' 

Hold my breath till I bust , — do you s’pose I 
could?’’ 

Isabelle did not deign to answer. She arose with all 
the dignity of a young lady of nineteen responsible 
years, closed her book, and, casting eyes of scorn on the 
tomboy, walked out of the room. 

When the door closed on Isabelle, Nannie walked to 
a large mirror, with a massive gilt frame that hung 
over the mantel and frowned at her reflection there. 

It was a roguish, gypsy face that frowned from the 
mirror, the most prominent feature of which was the 
great dark eyes, very wide apart. Two thin “ pig 
tails ” of straight black hair, tied with pink strings, 
stood at right angles to Nannie’s ears. 

“Ugh! you homely thing!” murmured Nannie, 
making a quick grimace at herself that gradually 
widened to a smile. 

Suddenly the door opened, and the smile died on 
Nannie’s lips, as her eyes met those of a tall, angular- 
looking woman whose height was accentuated by 
coils of shiny black hair, piled on the very top of her 
head. 


12 JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 

Nannie turned crimson and faced her aunt; stand- 
ing first on one bare foot, then on the other. 

Aunt Cordelia, who had advanced to the center of 
the room, put up her lorgnette, and surveyed Nannie 
very much as if examining some new species. 

The girl began to squirm under the inspection, and 
for the first time in her life bare feet were uncom- 
fortable. 

** I suppose you are Annette,’’ said Aunt Cordelia 
after a pause of several seconds. 

Yes’m, I’m Nannie.” 

Nannie ! ” repeated the lady; horrible ! ” She took 
a second survey of the girl that lasted somewhat longer 
than the first, then dropped her lorgnette. 

“ How old are you, Annette? ” 

I’m thirteen, going on fourteen.” 

Hm ! an extremely awkward age — for you,” added 
Cordelia with great deliberation. 

Nannie felt a lump in her throat, but before the 
mortifying tears appeared, she flew past her aunt and 
out of the room. 

Breathless, she reached her own little room, 
where she locked the door against all intruders and 
cried as if her poor little disappointed heart would 
break. 



Aunt Cordelia . . . surveyed Nannie very much as if 
EXAMINING SOME NEW SPECIES. — Page 12. 




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A CHANGE OF FORTUNE 1 3 

Nannie’s dreams of a fairy godmother had been 
rudely shattered. 

While all this was going on, Jack Tenfield was at 
his desk in his room, an open letter before him. 

It was the second time that day that he had perused 
its contents, part of which was as follows : 

You remember the Rocket that was high and dry 
in the Captain’s yard this many a day. Well, last 
winter he gave it to me. You always said it would 
make a fine boat if it was fixed up a bit, so the Captain 
looked it over with me the other day, and he said it 
would cost about twenty-five dollars to put it in first- 
rate condition. You see, Jack, for this small sum the 
Rocket can be made as tight and neat as a new beat, 
and it will be ours. 

“ I’ve been working off and on this winter and I 
have nearly seven dollars laid by — if you could help 
out we might be partners this summer and run the 
Rocket between Horn Point and the shore. 

“ This was your idea and I have thought about it 
all winter. I think it’s a bully old scheme. There’s 
money in it for both of us. What do you say? 

“ Yours, waiting for a quick answer, 

Burge Tebbett.” 

This was the letter that had caused Jack to ask his 
guardian for twenty-five dollars. 


14 


JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


The Professor’s refusal to give the money and the 
reasons therefor, opened up a new life for our hero. 

His father had been dead but three months, and he 
realized for the first time that he was no longer the 
wealthy youth he had supposed himself to be, that if 
he wanted money he would have to earn it. 

How he succeeded, the following chapters will tell. 


CHAPTER II 


JACK^S SECRET 

Several weeks had passed since Miss Cordelia Ten- 
field invaded the quiet of the old yellow mansion. 

Within its doors, previous to her coming, existence 
had been as peaceful as the summer sky before the 
storm clouds sweep across it. Cordelia changed this 
state of affairs in a very short time. She ordered every- 
body about, scolded Jack and Nannie, gave advice to 
Isabelle, deplored the extravagance of the faithful 
Nora, who had been housekeeper for years, and found 
fault with everything. 

The Professor heard such a tale of woe every time 
he called that he was looking forward to a trip to India 
with more than ordinary interest, because it would 
take him away from many disagreeable encounters 
with Cordelia. 

As the late Dr. Tenfield had named them guard- 
ians of his children’s affairs, it was necessary to dis- 
cuss several matters. These discussions had become 
such a bugbear to the timid, peace-loving Professor 
15 


l6 JACK tenfield’s star 

that he dreaded every meeting with Cordelia and 
avoided her as much as possible. 

One morning as he sat busily writing in the library, 
Cordelia walked unceremoniously into the room, her 
face crimson with anger. “ I really do not know. Pro- 
fessor, what we shall do with Annette.” 

“ Annette ! ” said the man, fidgeting in his chair at 
the woman's manner ; why, what is wrong with the 
child?” 

“ She is not a child. Professor, that is where you all 
make a serious mistake ; this petting her and letting her 
do just as she pleases, as if she were a baby, has really 
spoiled her — she is rude, positively rude, and has been 
impudent to me ever since I came.” 

What ! my little Nannie,” cried the Professor. 

I cannot believe that she would be impudent. She 
is a little wild ; we have let her run about too much, per- 
haps, but surely Nannie is a good child.” 

Good for nothing,” was the emphatic reply. 

Well, well, she has had no mother,” said the man 
gently, ‘‘ you must make allowances.” 

“ It was only this morning,” said Cordelia, not an 
hour ago, that I met her going off with a basket of 
stale bread, and when I asked her where she was going 
she answered, ‘ To visit my summer boarders.' I 


jack's secret 


17 

watched her, Professor, and she went down to that 
mudpool/' cried the indignant lady. 

“ Wha — what did she mean ? " asked the man. 

“ Bull-frogs — think of it — bull-frogs, and birds, and 
stray cats, and every other rubbish.” 

The Professor could not refrain from smiling, know- 
ing Nannie’s odd little ways, and he said : 

‘‘ Nannie is an original little soul — she has a queer 
way of expressing things, that is all.” 

“ I also wish to speak about Jack. I am afraid he is 
not doing right, that he is plotting some mischief. I 
found him in the barn talking in whispers to a dirty- 
looking, ragged boy. What do you think of that ? ” 

“ I see no wrong in that,” was the quiet answer^ 

Rest assured, Cordelia, that he has no dishonorable^ 
secrets. I know Jack.” 

'' But who was that disreputable-looking creature 
with him ? ” demanded Cordelia. 

‘‘ It might have been the boy of some of the Doctor’s 
patients. He attended many poor families below the 
Crossing, and I presume Jack knows some of the lads.” , 
That is another subject I wish to discuss with you. 
Can nothing be done to collect the large sum of money 
that is owed to the estate by these people ? ” 

I fear not,” was the answer. 


1 8 JACK tenfield's star 

How foolish for a man of my brother’s calling to 
attend people who never paid him a cent for his serv- 
ices. No wonder that his home is mortgaged, and his 
children almost penniless. He must have been crazy.” 

“ Well, well,” said the Professor, rising to leave the 
room and the hated atmosphere of a scold, you do not 
understand him, Cordelia, and perhaps we had better 
not talk about it.” 

“ Another foolish one ! ” muttered Cordelia when the 
door closed on the Professor. No more business to 
him than to a jackal.” 

She walked to the window with compressed lips, and 
was just in time to see a ragged-looking boy coming up 
the path. 

He stood beside one of the tall elms and gave three 
shrill whistles. After waiting a minute he made 
straight for the barn and entered it. 

Now was Aunt Cordelia’s opportunity to find out his 
business with Jack. She stepped quickly from the 
window, went downstairs, and hurriedly left the house 
by the back door. When she reached the barn, she 
walked to the rear of it and peeked through a small 
window. 

Cordelia was in the nick of time, and her face glowed 
with satisfaction when she saw the strange lad take 


jack's secret 


19 


something from his pocket and place it under a stone 
behind the barn door. When this was done, he went 
outside, glanced toward the house, and ran across the 
field, taking a short-cut to the street. 

Cordelia could hardly wait, so great was her curi- 
osity to see what was under the stone and thus discover 
the secret that her nephew was taking such pains to 
conceal. 

She looked around to make sure that he was not in 
sight, and went at once to the stone behind the barn 
door. Under it she found a small piece of brown 
paper folded tightly, and on opening it saw that it 
contained a long list of names and addresses. The 
first name that caught her eye read as follows : 

Mr. Samuel De Wolf XX." 

The inquisitive lady pondered over this name and 
wondered what it all meant, especially the two 
crosses. She noticed that the other names were not 
thus marked. 

Mr. Samuel De Wolf was an old friend and neigh- 
bor. With a brother. Ford De Wolf, about fifteen 
years his junior, he lived in a large white house, a 
short distance from the Tenfield mansion. The 


20 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


brothers were wealthy wool merchants, but while Mr. 
Samuel devoted his time to the interests of the great 
warehouse on Atlantic Avenue, it was well known that 
Mr. Ford spent a great deal of time on boats and dogs. 
He was a famous oarsman, and the owner of some of 
the finest dogs in the country. The brothers had a 
beautiful summer home at Horn Point, adjoining that 
of the late Dr. Tenfield. 

Aunt Cordelia knew all this and wondered what the 
list of names meant. She was just about to ponder on 
the second name when footsteps were heard. 

Hastily replacing the paper under the stone, she 
walked to the other end of the barn. 

“ Looking for eggs, auntie ? ” said a boyish voice 
that she recognized at once as that of Jack. 

Her first impulse was to accuse Jack of some under- 
handed business, but on second thoughts she decided 
to find out more about it. She hoped by waiting to 
discover him in the very act, so she answered calmly, 
“ Do you ever find eggs in here? ” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” said Jack with a smile, look in that 
old black hat in the corner, I put it there because the 
big gray hen always laid an egg in that spot.” 

There are no eggs here to-day,” said his aunt, as 
she sauntered slowly out of the barn. 


jack’s secret 


21 


Jack evidently knew that the paper was under the 
stone, because no sooner did Cordelia disappear than he 
seized it, glanced over its contents, and slipped it into 
his pocket. 

He wore a very happy smile as he turned a cart- 
wheel ” from the barn to the path outside, and whis- 
tling softly to himself, hurried to the house and went at 
once to his room, where he wrote the following letter : 

Dear Burge : 

“ All this time I have been working out the problem 
of how to make twenty-five dollars. I have thought 
about it all day and pretty near dreamt about it all 
night. At last I have found a way to get it, thanks to 
a boy named Billy Havey that I know. I will tell you 
all about that later, but just now I have only time to 
say go ahead with the Rocket. Make her look as well 
as you can. A coat of paint will do wonders for that 
old tub. Expect another letter very soon from 

JACK.^^ 

It did not take Jack many minutes to seal this letter 
and get it started on its way to Horn Point. 

Some time later he entered the sitting room all 
smiles, and found Nannie making faces at herself in the 
old mirror. i 


22 


JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 


Say, Nan, you’re no beauty, but I wouldn’t feel so 
badly about it, if I were you,” laughed the boy, who 
was really very fond of his sister, but liked to tease her 
at times. 

I don’t want to be a beauty,” cried Nannie. ‘‘ Isa- 
belle’s a beauty, and I wouldn’t be like her for any- 
thing.” 

'' I suppose one beauty is enough in the family,” 
laughed Jack. 

“ One too many in this family,” declared Nannie. 
'' Do you know why? ’Cause we’re poor, and Isabelle 
isn’t a bit happy.” 

“ She ought to be,” replied the lad. “ She’s Aunt 
Cordelia’s favorite, and will probably get all her 
money. That ought to make her happy.” 

Yes, Jack, but Aunt Cordelia is terribly stingy 
and disagreeable, even to a favorite, and Belle has to 
smother a whole lot of rebellion to please her.” 

“ I might smother a little if I thought she’d 
give me all that money. Oh, don’t I wish I was rich. 
Nan ! I’d have a bully old time, and travel all over the 
world.” 

“ And I’d go with you,” cried Nan, as eagerly as if 
it were a settled matter. 

^‘I bet you wouldn’t,” was Jack’s unfeeling reply; 


jack's secret 


23 


“ girls are no good to travel ; they’re afraid of things. 
I thank my stars I’m not a girl.” 

“I’m sorry I’m one every minute,” sighed Nannie; 
“ but just the same, Jack Tenfield, I’m not afraid of 
things. Didn’t I walk through Hitchcock’s field when 
the bull was loose, didn’t I ? ” 

“ Pshaw ! ” said Jack, “ you’re afraid of a mouse. 
Now, aren’t you? Afraid of a little, scared, hunted 
mouse ! ” 

“ Ye-es,” assented Nan reluctantly. “ I don’t know 
why it is, but they make little shivers run down my 
back.” 

“ Look out ! Perhaps I have a couple,” cried Jack, 
stepping back and pretending to draw out something 
from his pocket. 

With a scream, Nannie made a rush for the nearest 
chair, while Jack gave her a pitying smile and left the 
room. 

He had hardly gone when Aunt Cordelia entered. 
She stood at the door and glared at the girl standing 
on the chair. 

“ Get down, Annette.” 

Nannie slipped down into the chair. 

“ I have been in this house almost four weeks and in 
that time I have never seen you do anything useful. 


24 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


You do not seem to be interested in those things that 
usually appeal to a girl of your age. In short, you do 
not behave like a girl at all.’' 

Nannie sat in sullen silence during this speech, and 
Cordelia, feeling that the girl was quite overcome by 
the weight of her faults, f 61 t encouraged to go on. 

“ Can you sew, Annette ? ” 

“ I’m learning in school, but I can’t sew very 
straight.” 

“ You can’t sew. Can you wash dishes or dust i 
room? Can you make bread, — answer me, Annette, — 
can you make a loaf of bread ? ” 

I never made anything in my life ’cept molasses 
candy,” Nan admitted. 

“ Oh, such a worthless girl ! When I was your age, 
miss, I could do anything. Pray what do you intend to 
do when you grow up ? ” 

Nannie slipped out of the chair and flew past her 
aunt to the door. 

“ When Jack has a girl like me, I’m going to say all 
the hateful things I can think of to her, there ! ” flashed 
Nan, slamming the door. 

Aunt Cordelia sank into the nearest chair and ap- 
plied her smelling salts. 

It is useless to try to make anything out of her,” 


jack's secret 


25 


murmured Cordelia. “ She is impossible." She sat 
for many minutes in deep thought, then rang for the 
maid. 

“Is Miss Tenfield in the house?" asked Cordelia, 
when the young woman appeared. 

“ Yes, ma'am; I think she is in her room." 

“ You may send her to me at once," said the lady in 
<her most decided manner. 

“ Yes, ma'am," said the maid, who had assumed a 
very docile air, while standing before Miss Cordelia, 
but when the door was shut between them, shook her 
fist and muttered, “ The ould tyrant ! " 

Very pretty and accomplished and shrewd withal 
was Miss Isabelle Tenfield, the late Doctor's eldest child. 
At the time of her father's death she had been attend- 
ing a fashionable boarding school for young ladies, 
where she had acquired, among other things, a great 
dislike for the quiet life in the old yellow house. 

There was no sentiment in Miss Tenfield, but little 
Nannie had enough for both. 

The knowledge of her father's loss of fortune had 
been a sad shock to Isabelle, but she brightened up 
wonderfully when Aunt Cordelia appeared. 

She smiled graciously at every word and act of the 
tyrannical lady, whose wealth covered a multitude of 


26 


JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


disagreeable qualities in Isabelle's eyes. In Cordelia 
she saw a possible means of escape from the dull life 
before her, and therefore made it a point to agree with 
her aunt in everything. 

When the maid announced her errand, Isabelle lost 
no time, but hurried down to the sitting room, where 
she said sweetly : 

Did you want to see me, auntie? " 

“ Yes, dear. Be seated ; I want to talk with you. 
Annette is a little savage, but you are a good child, Isa- 
belle, and I am going to take you out of these wretched 
surroundings. I am greatly disappointed in Jack, also. 
I fear he has low tastes. How would you like to travel 
with me ? " 

'' Oh, auntie, I would like it very much, indeed," 
cried Isabelle, blushing with pleasure. 

“ Well, dear, I will talk it over with the Professor. 
In the meantime you would better look over your be- 
longings, and be ready to go with me at any moment." 


CHAPTER III 


A FEW INCIDENTS 

I DO not know just what your aunt’s plans are,” 
said the Professor, the following morning, but you 
will probably make your home with her.” 

Jack looked anything but pleased at this piece of 
news, as he asked, “ Are we going to stay here? ” 

“ I presume so ; you know I am going away very 
shortly, and Cordelia will decide whatever is best for 
you. Of course. Jack, I shall always be interested in 
you, and if at any time you want anything, I hope that 
the son of my oldest friend will not forget me.” 

Thank you,” said the boy, and added after a short 
pause, ‘‘ I will finish at the Latin School and enter 
college just the same as if father had lived; shan’t I? ” 
“ Oh, undoubtedly,” replied the Professor, “ your 
aunt is a wealthy woman, — I may say a very wealthy 
woman. She will carry out her brother’s ideas in 
regard to that, I feel confident.” 

At this point in the conversation, Nannie burst into 
the room in great excitement, crying out : ‘‘ What do 

27 


28 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


you think has happened? Burglars broke into De 
Wolf’s last night and stole Bolivar — he’s worth ever 
so much money — they say he’s the most valuable dog 
in this country — and Mr. Ford has offered a reward 
of fifty dollars for his return.” 

Bless my soul,” said the Professor, smiling at the 
girl, “ you quite take one’s breath with your news.” 

I’ve just been up to Hitchcock’s,” Nannie went 
on, “ they’re all talking about it.” 

They think the robbery was committed by some 
person familiar with the house,” said Aunt Cordelia, 
walking into the room with the morning paper in her 
hand, followed by Isabelle. 

Read it. Professor,” said Cordelia, pointing to a 
short paragraph in the paper. 

Strange,” said the man, glancing over the account, 
who could have done such a thing.” 

Aunt Cordelia looked hard at Jack, who was eagerly 
reading the paper over the Professor’s shoulder. 

It’s too bad ! ” exclaimed the boy, ‘‘ Mr. Ford 
thought a great deal of that dog.” 

I wonder if Samuel was at home,” said the Pro- 
fessor. 

‘‘No, sir; he isn’t at home,” answered Jack “he’s 
been in New York for a few days.” 


A FEW INCIDENTS 2g 

** How do you know ? ” asked Aunt Cordelia 
abruptly, and scanned the boy with her sharp eyes. 

Jack hesitated for a second, and his face grew red 
as he answered, '' I was up there last night ; the hired 
man told me.’' 

“ What business took you at Mr. De Wolfs house 
last night ? ” asked Cordelia. 

To the surprise of everybody in the room Jack did 
not answer. 

Professor Lesch, wondering not so much at the 
question as at the woman’s tone and manner, replied: 
“ Why, Cordelia, what mystery can there be in the 
fact that Jack was there? ” 

“ Ask him ; ask him,” repeated the woman, pointing 
to the boy. 

‘‘ I would rather not tell what my business was, at 
least not now,” said Jack, his flushed cheeks growing 
a shade deeper. 

Cordelia looked at the Professor with compressed 
lips. “ I told you so. I am not surprised,” she went 
on, “ that any boy who has secret meetings with a dis- 
reputable-looking, ragged boy, refuses to answer that 
question.” 

What do you mean, Aunt Cordelia ? ” cried Jack 
with flashing eyes. 


30 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


Just what I say,” replied the woman. “ I saw 
that paper, containing a list of names, hidden in the 
barn, for your eyes only, and the name that headed the 
list was that of Mr. Samuel De Wolf, marked with 
two crosses.”' 

“ Well, what of that ? ” cried the boy. 

“ That, sir, was only two days ago. There has been 
a robbery at this house, a valuable dog has been stolen. 
The thief must have been familiar with the movements 
of the household — must have known that a reward 
would be offered. You say that you knew Mr. De 
Wolf was not at home, that you went there last night, 
but you refuse to tell why you were at the De Wolf 
house the night of the robbery. Don't you think, sir, 
it looks rather suspicious, to say the least? ” 

There was nothing dishonorable in my going there, 
or in my business with that ragged boy, but it was 
dishonorable to spy upon him, and read other people's 
letters,” cried Jack. Billy Havey is poor, and doesn't 
wear very good clothes, but he's honest,” flashed the 
indignant boy. 

Havey, Havey,” muttered Cordelia, trying to 
think why the name seemed familiar to her. Oh, I 
remember now,” she added. In looking over your 
father's accounts, I found that a certain William Havey 


A FEW INCIDENTS 3 1 

owes almost three hundred dollars for medical attend- 
ance on various members of his family. This is the 
son, I suppose. An idle fellow, who ought to be at 
work, and help pay his debts.'’ 

“ He does work," said Jack. Nobody ever could 
say that Billy was lazy. While he was going to school 
he sold newspapers night and morning, and did chores 
at Hitchcock’s every Saturday. Now he has to leave 
school, and he’s got steady work in a market, so he 
has given up the newspapers.’’ 

Indeed ! ’’ said Cordelia, and what has all this 
to do with you ? ’’ 

'' Only this,’’ flashed Jack, stung at last into telling 
his secret. Billy Havey has given me his newspaper 
route for the present, and I’m selling papers to earn 
some money. That paper you saw in the barn was a 
list of Billy’s house customers. The two crosses after 
Samuel De Wolf meant that there were two papers 
left there every night, one for Mr. Samuel, the other 
for Mr. Ford. It was when I left the papers last 
night that the man told me Mr. Sam was in New 
York." 

“ So Dr. Tenfield’s son has taken to selling news- 
papers, — an honorable career, to be sure," sneered the 
lady. 


32 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


‘‘ Tm not ashamed of it,” said the boy in a low, 
clear voice. 

Professor Lesch,” said Cordelia suddenly, turning 
to 'the silent witness of the affair, I have decided to 
leave here this afternoon. My niece Isabelle will ac- 
company me. I will write you about my future plans.” 
So saying. Aunt Cordelia walked with great dignity 
out of the room, without so much as a glance at Jack. 
Isabelle followed at once, and the Professor, longing 
to get away from the house until Cordelia was safely 
out of it, pleaded an engagement and took his leave. 

Oh, Jack,” said Nannie, when they were alone, 
I think it’s great fun, your selling newspapers.” 

I’m not doing it for fun. Nan. I want to earn 
twenty-five dollars.” 

“How much have you made so far?” asked the 
girl. 

“ One dollar and forty-eight cents ; but, you know, 
I haven’t been doing it very long.” 

“I’m so glad auntie is going, aren’t you. Jack? 
We’ll have Nora all to ourselves, and no one to scold 
us. I’m glad she isn’t going to invite us to live with 
her.” 

“ Live with Aunt Cordelia ! ” cried Jack. “ I guess 
not! I believe she thought I was the thief that took 


A FEW INCIDENTS 33 

Mr. De Wolf’s dog. I wouldn’t live with her for 
anything in the world.” 

‘‘ But, Jack, she’s our guardian. Nora says that 
father wanted us to do whatever she decided.” 

The boy’s face softened. He loved his father’s 
memory too deeply to criticise any word or act, but the 
thought suddenly came to him that his father had not 
seen Cordelia for many years, and if he had known her 
better he would have hesitated before he made her 
guardian. 

Just at this point Nora showed her broad, motherly, 
smiling face at the door. “ D’ye know. Jack, it’s time 
you an’ Nannie were off to school ? ” 

So it is,” cried the boy, glancing at his watch and 
making a dive for the door, followed by Nannie. Nora 
stepped aside to let them pass, and watched them from 
the window until they were out of sight. 

He’s a fine, handsome lad,” murmured the woman, 

an’ has the look of his father. May the Lord rest his 
soul ; he was a good man.” 

Nora had first seen Jack when he was a chubby little 
fellow with brown curls. She had wept over Nannie, 
when her little life had cost that of a sweet-faced 
mother, and had given the boy and girl all the love 
that was in her big, warm, motherly heart. 


34 


JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


When Jack came from school that day he saw 
several signs of his aunt’s preparation for travel. Her 
great trunks were in the hall, and the maid was hurry- 
ing to and fro with bundles and band-boxes. Jack 
met Isabelle on the stairs, her eyes shiny and a bright 
flush of excitement deepening the color in her cheeks. 
Isabelle had never been very much interested in her 
only brother, but for that matter she had never been 
interested in anybody but Miss Isabelle Tenfield. 
The thoughts of leaving the dull life in the yellow 
house made her wonderfully gracious, and she 
smiled her sweetest at Jack, and asked where Nannie 
was. 

When the lunch was half over, the tardy Nannie 
entered, and slipped into her place at the table. 

“ Why did you remain after the session, Annette? ” 
asked Cordelia sternly. 

Nannie blushed and hung her head. “ In the gram- 
mar lesson this morning,” said Nan reluctantly, 

'' teacher asked for examples of gender ” Nannie 

hesitated. 

“ Well ? ” asked Cordelia impatiently. 

I said Billy goat was masculine and Nannie goat 
feminine, and she made me write a hundred words 
after school.” 


A FEW INCIDENTS 


35 


A burst of laughter from Jack followed this 
announcement, while Aunt Cordelia made no 
comment whatever, and Isabelle looked very properly 
shocked. 

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, but the 
glances that Miss Cordelia inflicted on her niece were 
more expressive than words. 

It was a great surprise to Jack and Nannie that«after- 
noon to learn that Nora was going with Aunt Cordelia. 
Nannie heard her aunt tell the Professor, who had 
called to say good-bye, that McNaughton would arrive 
that night. 

No sooner had Cordelia departed bag and baggage 
than the two maids left at short notice. 

The idea of leaving us all alone in this house,” 
cried Nan, when she and Jack talked the matter over. 
“ Suppose burglars got in. Pll never sleep a wink 
to-night, I know I shan’t.” 

Pshaw,” said Jack, “ I’m not afraid of any 
burglars, — ^but I must go now. I’m in a hurry.” 

‘‘Where are you gomg?’’ asked Nan, starting to 
follow her brother, who was half-way across the yard 
to the barn. 

“ We’re going to play the ‘ Longwoods,’ ” was the 


answer. 


36 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


Fm going, too ; Fm not going to stay all alone in 
an empty house,'' cried Nan. 

Jack never heard her. He flew into the barn and in 
a second appeared with a bat under his arm, drawing 
on an old glove from which the fingers had been cut. 
Then he started across the fields and was soon out of 
sight. 

Beaute, a shaggy spaniel, started after him, but 
Nan whistled and called, and finally caught Beaute by 
the collar. “ You ungrateful dog," said Nan, shaking 
a finger at the two brown eyes that were studying her 
face. I feed you more in one week than Jack does 
in a year, and yet you’d leave me all alone and go after 
him — and I pat you and say ever so many nice things, 
and he wouldn’t look at you all the afternoon, would 
he? There’s a little corner in your little heart for me, 
but all the rest is for Jack, and dogs like boys better 
than girls, don’t they? Why is it?" With this 
speech. Nan started for the damp fields near the 
Hillside Spring to gather violets, followed by 
Beaute. 

When Jack returned that night his left eye was 
badly swollen, and on the following morning it was 
black and blue. “ You must have caught the ball on 
your eye. Jack," laughed his sister. 


A FEW INCIDENTS 37 

‘‘ No,” said the boy, smiling, “ I did not get this 
black eye playing ball.” 

‘‘ How did you get it ? ” 

Nannie, your bump of curiosity is altogether too 
big for your size.” This was all the information 
Nannie received. 


CHAPTER IV 


KEEPING HOUSE 

On Friday evening, three days after Aunt Cor- 
delia’s departure, the old yellow house displayed but 
one light. It burned in the sitting room, where Nan- 
nie, in a corner, was weeping softly over the right- 
eousness of Elsie Dinsmore, while Jack sat at the table 
writing a letter to Burge Tebbett. 

After a while Nan closed her book and walked to 
the table, where she read the following over Jack’s 
shoulder : 

Dear Burge : 

“Just a line to keep up your courage, and the good 
work on the Rocket. My newspaper business is doing 
so well that I have four dollars and eighty-seven cents 
saved. Before the summer vacation sets in I mean to 
have that twenty-five dollars, if I have to set up a boot- 
black’s chair to earn it; and this reminds me of a funny 
incident that happened the other day. I had just 
started out with my papers, when I saw a little fellow 
set upon by two toughs in an alleyway. They knocked 
38 


KEEPING HOUSE 39 

him down and started in to pummel him, when I hap- 
pened along. 

“ I threw my papers one side and struck out right 
and left for all I was worth. They scattered, but not 
before one of them gave me a nasty blow in the eye. 

“ You deserve any credit that belongs to the affair, 
because you taught me to box in good style last 
summer, and I have practiced all winter in the barn 
with the punching-bag. My blows are much harder 
than they were, and I can hit quicker. 

‘‘ The little fellow seemed awfully . grateful. He 
told me his name was Terry — just Terry — he has no 
other name, and he is a boot-black. Now what do you 
suppose he is going to do, but get a big chair, and have 
a settled place of business. He says there is money in 
it, and he offered to take me as partner. 

“ Isn’t this a bully joke? I don’t think I’ll accept, 
as I hope to be partner in another business. First mate 
of the Rocket with Captain Burge Tebbett would 
suit me better. Doesn’t that sound great? 

‘‘ Yours (hoping for a line), 

Jack.” 

‘‘ So that is how you got your black eye, is it ? ” 
laughed Nan. You better look out. Jack, you’ll get 
into trouble with those street boys.” 

Oh, no ; I guess not. I never have anything to do 
with any of them, except Terry. I talk with him occa- 


40 


JACK TENFIELD’S STAR 


sionally. Do you know, I think he likes to talk to me. 
He’s a queer little chap, and he looks hungry all the 
time.” 

Does he look like me? ” said Nan. There must 
be a resemblance, because I look hungry all the time, 
and what’s more I am hungry, since Nora went.” 

“ So am I,” returned Jack. It’s two days since 
they all went away, not a soul has showed up yet, and 
the rations are getting low. I wonder why somebody 
hasn’t been here.” 

“ If Professor Lesch knew we were all alone in this 
big house he’d have a conniption,” cried Nan. ‘‘ The 
first night I was scared,” she went on, “ but since 
you’ve promised to sleep on that rug outside my door 
with Beaute, I’m not a bit afraid.” 

Jack grinned. It was true that he had reluctantly 
yielded to Nan’s entreaties to guard her sanctum in 
the manner above described, but it was for one night 
only. She did not know that after that he had stolen 
off to his own bed, and never thought of her or bur- 
glars till he felt a cold nose on his hand in the morning, 
and awoke to find Beaute at his bedside, telling him 
in dog-fashion that it was time to get up. 

“ Oh, for a great big slice of Nora’s bread and 
butter,” sighed Nan. “ Don’t you wish you had it? ” 


KEEPING HOUSE 


41 


‘‘ I wish I had a good dinner,” was Jack’s answer ; 
and Beaute, who had been dozing peacefully at Jack’s 
feet, opened his eyes at the sound of the word 
“ dinner,” and sniffed. Beaute was hungry. 

‘‘ I wish I had a table filled with good things to eat,” 
said Nan. Lots of pudding would be nice, wouldn’t 
it. Jack, especially if it were plum — ^just fancy a round, 
fat, steaming, juicy, delicious, melting plum pudding — 
doesn’t your mouth water?” 

“ Don’t,” said Jack, raising a hand in smiling pro- 
test. ‘‘ I was so hungry last night when I went to bed, 
that I dreamt all night of eating things.” 

Now, that’s queer. I had the very same kind of 
a dream,” cried Nan. I dreamt I was in a room that 
had a lot of mantels and shelves and tables, and on 
every mantel, shelf, and table were ever so many pin- 
cushions; but the oddest thing about it was the fact 
that the pincushions were all made of ginger-bread — 
lovely, soft, spongy ginger-bread, and I ate them — 
pins and all.” 

“ That was a strange dream,” returned Jack. 
‘‘ Ginger-bread ! Oh, don’t I wish this floor was car- 
peted with it.” 

“ What an idea ! ” cried Nan, and suppose there 
were great, golden griddle cakes for mats ? ” 


42 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


rd walk on my teeth,” laughed the boy. 

'' ril tell you what we’ll do,” said Nan, '' to-morrow 
is Saturday, and we’ll cook.” 

What? ” asked practical Jack. 

“ Oh, lots of stuff. We’ll lay in a good supply, so 
that if Mr. McNaughton comes, he won’t be starved. 
We might kill a hen, and have roast chicken.” 

‘‘ So we could. Nan, and that’s just what we’ll do. 
I’ll take the head off that fat gray hen in the morning.” 

Jack Tenfield ! ” exclaimed the girl, would you 
be so mean? — that poor old thing that’s so happy, 
clucking around all day. I didn’t think it of you.” 

“ Well — er, how are you going to eat her, if I 
don’t? ” asked Jack. 

“ I never said I wanted to eat her,” retorted Nan. 
“ Eat poor old gray-legs — it would just choke me if 
I did.” 

Well, what hen would strike your fancy for a 
meal. Nan, one of those big pullets ? ” 

Jack Tenfield, I’m not a cannibal to eat friends — 
now listen, you can go up to Hitchcock’s to-morrow 
morning and buy one already killed, then we’ll roast 
it, and have a splendid dinner.” 

If you had happened to visit the great kitchen in the 
yellow mansion the following morning, you would 


KEEPING HOUSE 


43 


have witnessed a busy scene. Pots and pans and 
kettles, of all sizes and shapes, had been taken down 
and scattered about on the table, on the chairs, and on 
the floor. Sugar and salt had been spilled in divers 
places ; the walls were decorated here and there with a 
slap of butter, while under and over everything in the 
room was flour. It powdered the tip of Nan’s nose, 
and rested on the long lashes, causing her to wink 
hard. 

All this excitement was due to the fact that Jack 
had gone to a neighboring farmhouse to buy a chicken, 
and Nannie was improving the hungry minutes by at- 
tempting to make a cake for the first time in her life. 

She had half-filled an immense breadpan with flour 
and was pouring in milk and water, as if a quantity of 
liquid was the one thing needful. A pitcher of lemon- 
ade, left Over from the previous day, was in imminent 
danger of being called into use to help soak the flour, 
if Nan’s eyes had chanced to light upon it. Lumps 
of butter and lard were thrown in, and cups of sugar 
followed, regardless of measure or proportion. Nan 
honestly believed that the more she put into the cake, 
the better it would be, and raisins and currants were 
thrown in with lavish hand. 

All at once Nan remembered that she had watched 


44 


JACK TENFIELD’s STAR 


Nora one day beating up eggs for a cake, and she de- 
cided at once to fill the cake with eggs. But the first 
egg dropped on the floor, and a few seconds later Nan 
took a slide on it and a back-somersault, that brought 
her up against the stove, just as the door opened, and 
Jack appeared with the chicken. 

“ You’re just in time,” said Nan, picking herself 
up. ‘‘ I’m making a cake. Jack. You know the lovely 
cake that Nora makes. Well, I saw her beating up eggs 
for it — you must help — it’s going to be grand.” 

“ What shall I do? ” asked the boy, delighted at the 
thoughts of a cake. 

'' Take all the eggs — every egg you can find in the 
house, and beat the life out of it — lots of eggs make a 
cake yellow, and yellow cake is lovely.” 

The eggs don’t make it yellow,” cried Jack, 
“ you’ve got to flavor it.” 

Wha — what?” said Nan, startled at Jack’s un- 
expected knowledge of cookery, ‘‘what do you mean? ” 

“ Why, flavor it, of course,” cried Jack. “ I know 
that much about a cake. Isn’t there a fruit cake and 
a sponge cake and a strawberry short-cake ? ” de- 
clared the boy, seeing Nan’s dubious look. “ It’s what 
they put into the cake that gives the name.” 

“ They don’t put sponges in sponge cake. I know 


KEEPING HOUSE 


45 


better than that/’ declared Nan; “but you’re partly 
right, I think,” she went on, and just then her eye fell 
upon a pot of cold coffee. “ The very thing,” cried 
Nan. “ I’ll pour it in, and make coffee cake. I just 
love coffee cake. Say, Jack, isn’t it easy to make a 
cake? I might have made one every day if I’d 
thought of it before.” 

“ Hold on a second ; my wrist aches from beating 
these eggs. Nan. Here they go— one, two, three ! ” 
Into the mess went the eggs, and on top of these Nan 
emptied a few more cups of sugar. “ There, I think 
it’s ready to go into the pan,” cried the chief cook 
triumphantly. 

“Are you sure it’s sweet enough?” returned Jack. 
“ Cakes have to be awful sweet, you know.” 

“ I’ll put in a little more sugar to be on the safe side. 
I suppose it couldn’t be too sweet? ” said Nan. 

The mixture in the breadpan was next beaten by 
Jack, because he was “ so strong,” and Nan placed the 
baking pans on the table. 

“ You’ve got to grease those pans. Nan, or the cake 
will stick to them.” 

“ I’m so glad you thought of it,” returned the girl; 
“ but stay, what shall I use to do it? ” 

“ Butter or lard, of course.” 


46 JACK tenfield's star 

“ There isn’t a speck of either left. I put it all in the 
cake, ni take a piece of that yellow soap at the sink ; 
that will do.” 

“ Soap the pans ! No, that won’t do; the cake might 
taste soapy,” said Jack. 

“ But it can’t get inside the cake, and I’ll only use a 
tiny bit,” Nan insisted. 

“ I don’t think soap’s the thing ; but there’s a bottle 
of goose grease on the mantel. Wouldn’t that be 
better ? ” 

The very thing. Let’s have it,” said Nan, beam- 
ing. I didn’t know. Jack, that you knew so much 
about cooking. I shouldn’t be surprised if you could 
make a better cake than I.” 

“ No, I couldn’t,” said the lad ; ‘‘ but I’ll tell you 
what. I’ll have to do it at once, or you can’t bake it. 
I must get some wood for that fire.” 

'' Run along, then,” said Nan, “ and I’ll put this 
chicken in the other baking pan.” 

You’ve got to clean it first,” said Jack. 

“ Of course I’ll clean it. Do you suppose I don’t 
know that? ” retorted Nan. 

“ Oh, I don’t mean just washing it,” cried Jack, 
watching Nannie hold the chicken under the faucet. 

You’ve got to take out the insides.” 


KEEPING HOUSE 


47 


Ha ? ** said Nan, looking bewildered for a second ; 
then her face brightened as she answered : “ Oh, that’s 
easy enough to do. You get the wood, and I’ll fix the 
chicken.” 

Jack rushed out, and in a few moments appeared 
with an armful of wood, just as Nannie gave a little 
squeal, at the sink. 

‘‘ Oh, Jack ! quick ! There’s funny things in this 
chicken.” 

Jack dropped the wood, and as he did Nan dropped 
the chicken on the floor and jumped away from it with 
a scream. 

“What’s the matter?” asked Jack, picking up the 
ciiicken. 

“ Snakes ! ” cried Nan. “ They’re in the chicken.” 

“ Go away. Nan, and I’ll clean this bird in a min- 
ute,” said the boy. 

Nan willingly obeyed, and took a stand at the 
kitchen door, ready to run at the first sign of danger. 

The chicken was finally put into the pan, and at the 
last moment it occurred to Nan that she had seen Nora 
do something else. 

“ Jack, get me some string,” said Nan. “ I d'on’t 
know why they tie the arms and legs of a dead chicken. 
It can’t be they are afraid it ’ll ‘ come to ’ in the pan.” 


48 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


Jack gave Nannie a piece of fishing line to tie the 
bird, and it was then put in the oven. 

While the cake and chicken were baking, Jack ran 
to the barn to look for eggs, leaving Nannie singing 
in the gladness of her heart and the prospect of a good 
dinner. 

A loud knocking on the back door brought Nan face 
to face with a little old man, with a bushy black beard 
and bead-like eyes. With hands folded on a greasy 
vest that was much too large for the wearer and a 
broad smile, he bade Nan Good-morning.’' 

“ Dis ees Dr. Tenfield’s place; yes?” asked the 
man. 

‘‘ Yes, sir,” said the girl, amazed at the sight of her 
visitor. 

You aixpected me. No?” 

“ No, sir. Yes — oh, — yes ! ” cried Nan, suddenly 
remembering McNaughton. '' We expected you three 
days ago.” 

“ So ? ” said the stranger, looking shrewdly at the 
girl. 

Won’t you please come in? ” asked Nan, trying to 
be hospitable. 

“ No, t’anks. I will walk around a leetle, shust to 
see.” 


KEEPING HOUSE 


49 


He hobbled away from the door, while Nan made 
frantic signs to Jack, who was approaching with a hat 
full of eggs. 

“ It’s McNaughton, at last,” whispered Nan. “ He 
asked me if we were expecting him.” 

What a queer-looking old man he is,” said Jack, 
watching the stranger’s retreating figure. 

“ He’s looking up at the barn, and all around,” cried 
Nan. “ You better run after him, and invite him 
to come in to dinner. It must be nearly cooked now.” 

Jack hurried off, but returned in a few minutes with 
the information that the little man had politely re- 
fused. 

Never mind,” cried Nan. He’ll never know 
what he’ll miss ” — which was indeed true. 

To the surprise of Jack and his sister, the little old 
man did not come back. They had seen him walking 
over the place, and were puzzled by his non-appearance 
all the afternoon, but it was time for Jack to go for his 
papers, so he dismissed all thoughts of the stranger 
and hurried away. 

When Jack was starting out a few hours later with 
his papers under his arm, he met Terry. It was the 
first time for several days that our hero had seen the 
bootblack. 


50 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


“ Been away? '' asked Jack, standing a moment. 

Terry shook his head. Been laid up; something 
’ere,” he said in a hoarse whisper, pointing a lean 
finger at his narrow chest. I kind o’ smothered up 
there; but I’m better.” 

“ Terry,” cried Jack, touching the lad’s shoulder, 
“ I believe you’re sick; your eyes look queer, and you 
are as v/hite as chalk. Go home, Terry, and get into 
a good warm bed as soon as ever you can.” 

A faint smile played over the little bootblack’s wan 
features. 

W’y, you talk as if I had a couch o’ down, and 
pillers, an’ all that. S’posin’ I don’t happen to have a 
bed?” 

“Not have a bed! Well, where do you sleep, I’d 
like to know I ” cried Jack. 

“ Mebbe you’d like to know, but I bet you wouldn’t 
like to try it,” laughed Terry. 

“ Well, 1 must nurry now, Terry. But you better 
do what I said — go home at once and go to bed.” 

Jack jumped on a car and waved a hand at Terry, 
who stood on the curbstone, gazing after this new ac- 
quaintance, a wistful expression on his small face. 

“ He’s a tip-topper,” muttered Terry. “ Wish I was 
as strong as half o’ him.” He stood in a brown study. 


KEEPING HOUSE 


51 


wondering about this boy, who seemed so different 
from every other newsboy he had seen. He began to 
picture his idea of Jack’s home, with wonderfully pleas- 
ant rooms and faces about; and he thought what a 
great thing it must be to live like tl^at, when a big 
policeman touched his arm, telling him to move on.’’ 

When Jack returned from his paper route he found 
Nannie sitting on the piazza with a strange woman, 
whom she introduced as Mrs. McNaughton. She was 
a ^arge, motherly-looking woman, with brown eyes, 
and a timid, rather nervous, manner. The boy and 
girl learned that she was Aunt Cordelia’s housekeeper, 
and had been unexpectedly delayed. 

When she left them to get supper, Jack turned to 
Nannie with inquiring eyes : 

I thought all the time, McNaughton was a man? ” 

“ So did I,” said Nan. 

“ Well, if she’s Mrs. McNaughton, who was the lit- 
tle old man? ” queried Jack. 

It couldn’t have been her husband, because she’s 
a widow; she told me so,” said Nan. 

“ A riddle, a riddle, pray answer who can, 

If she is McNaughton, then who was the man? ** 

laughed the girl, as they went in to supper. 


CHAPTER V 


A STRANGE VISIT 

‘‘ Say, is your name Jack ? ” 

That’s my name,” replied our hero, smiling down 
on a small urchin, who wore a torn cap so very near 
his eyes that he had to raise his chin to look into Jack’s 
face. 

“ Well, I guess it’s all right,” he said. ‘‘ I’d know 
yer by yer smile and yer dandy clothes. I guess you’re 
the feller wot this is for.” 

He held a greasy bit of brown paper in his fist, 
which he passed to Jack, who opened it, and read the 
following : 

'‘If you could come fer just a minuet — I want to 
see you and Dickey Free will show you the way. 

Terry.” 

“ I suppose you are Dickey Free,” said Jack, sur- 
veying the little fellow, who raised his chin, thrust 
both hands into his pockets, and said, Dat’s me.” 


52 


A STRANGE VISIT 


53 


‘‘ Is Terry sick in bed? ” asked Jack, who suddenly 
remembered that he had not seen the bootblack for 
several days. 

Dick nodded. 

‘‘ Well, now, listen, Dickey. I’ve got to deliver my 
papers first, but I’ll meet you here in one hour, right at 
this spot, and I’ll go with you. Do you understand? ” 
Sure.” 

Jack hurried away, wondering in his mind what 
the sick boy wanted to see him about. He did not 
have time to go home to supper, so he wrote Mrs. 
McNaughton a note, telling her where he had gone, 
and Billy Havey promised to take it for him. 

Jack flew over the ground as if his feet were winged, 
finished his work, and rushed back to meet Dickey. 

As he approached the appointed place, there was no 
sign of his guide. Jack looked at his watch and saw 
that it was five minutes before the hour. He waited, 
glancing impatiently up and down the street, when the 
bells on a church near by rang out seven, and on the 
last stroke Dickey stood beside Jack as suddenly as if 
he had come out of the ground. 

Jack could not help smiling at the sudden appear- 
ance, thinking in his own mind what a queer little chap 
Dickey was. 


54 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


“ You lead the way, Dickey, and I’ll follow,” said 
our hero, while his companion, without a word, started 
away at a brisk pace. 

Jack was a fast walker, but he had all he could do 
to keep up with Dickey, who hurried from one street 
into another, ran over the crossings, dodging cars and 
vehicles, and darting around corners of streets. 

After a while the crowds of people seemed to be 
thinning out; they encountered but a few stragglers, 
and, after a short walk through an alleyway, they 
came to a stretch of marsh land that was evidently 
used for a dump. 

In front of one of several old sheds, which were 
scattered about the edge of the dump, Dickey stopped. 

He’s in dere,” said the boy, and was off before 
Jack could say a word. 

Our hero pushed aside a board, used as a door, and 
stepped inside. 

In a corner of the wretched place, on a heap of rags, 
was Terry. He turned his big blue eyes toward Jack, 
and said with a smile, ‘‘ I knew you’d come, but Dickey 
said he bet you wouldn’t.” 

Jack could not speak for a minute. He felt a lump 
in his throat, and the tears were so near his eyes that 
he could not trust himself to speak. He knew that 


A STRANGE VISIT 


55 


Terry was only a poor little bootblack. He had 
always supposed that the boy lived in some big 
tenement house, but never for an instant had Jack 
tfaou^t of such poverty as he witnessed in the old 
shed. 

“ Look here, Terry, this won’t do,” said Jack, sit- 
ting cross-legged on the floor, beside the rags. “ You 
look too sick to be here all alone. Haven’t you a rela- 
tion, or somebody you could go to until you’re 
better? ” 

Terry shook his head. 

“It’s awful," said Jack, looking around. 

Terry’s face lit up wdth a wan smile. “ W’y, dis is 
.vary tony quarters. Jack. I moved here when I took 
sick. Yer see, I used to bunk in a cellar near the big 
market, and it was mighty cold at times.” 

“ Have you had anything to eat to-day, Terry? ” 

“ Oh, yes. Dickey brought me a hunk o’ bread and 
two big bananas dat he swdped from a dago. Dey’re 
under de clothes dere. I didn’t want ’em.” 

“ Did he steal those bananas ? ” asked the listening 
boy. 

“Sure he did!" 

“ He shouldn’t have done that,” said Jack, shaking 
his head. “ It isn’t right to steal, you know.” 


$6 JACK tenfield's star 

W'y, he wasn’t caught. They never could get 
Dickey.” 

“ It doesn’t make any difference whether he’s 
caught or not, it’s wrong, Terry; it’s breaking one 
of God’s commandments, you know, ‘ Thou shalt not 
steal.’ ” 

W’y, say. Jack, you talk just like one o’ them 
Sunday-school chaps.” 

No, I don’t. I wish I did, Terry, because then I 
could tell you all about it, so that you’d see for your- 
self why it was wrong. I can only tell you that it’s 
awful mean to lie or steal. It’s cowardly. You like 
fair play, don’t you ? ” 

“ Sure!” 

Well, then, how would you like some one to steal 
your blacking or your brushes? You wouldn’t like 
that, would you ? ” 

‘‘ No, dat’s sure, I wouldn’t. Say, I don’t believe 
you’d steal a thing, even if you had a good chance, 
now, would you ? ” 

“ Of course not,” said Jack, and he smiled at the 
puzzled expression on the face beside him. 

“ You’re the queerest chap I ever ran up against,” 
said Terry, raising his head from the bed of rags, and 
gazing into Jack’s face. I bet you could lick the 


A STRANGE VISIT 57 

whole crowd/’ he went on ; “ yet yer wouldn’t steal if 
you had a good chance.” 

As the last word was uttered, Terry fell back among 
the rags, with closed eyes, too exhausted to say any 
more. 

Jack watched him for several seconds, and when he 
did not move, our hero grew alarmed, and leaned over 
to see if the boy’s heart was beating. 

‘‘ I’m afraid Terry is dying,” thought Jack. “ I 
wish some one would come.” 

A moment later, as if in answer to the wish, Dickey 
appeared. 

“ I thought you’d be goin’, and might want me to go 
back wid ye,” said Dickey. 

‘‘ I’m glad you came. Do you know of a doctor 
about here ? ” asked Jack. 

Dere’s Dr. Zapponi ; dat’s all the doctor I 
know.” 

“ Run and fetch him here as soon as you can. I 
think Terry is dying.” 

Dickey opened his round eyes, and took a step nearer 
the heap of rags. 

Is Terry’s eyes shut very long?” 

Jack nodded. 

“ Den he’s dead for sure ! ” 


58 


JACK TENFIELD'^S STAR 


No, he isn’t dead. He’s fainted, Dickey. You 
bring the doctor, and he’ll help Terry in a short time.” 

Dickey shot out of the shed like a flash, while Jack 
walked up and down, counting the minutes. The 
white face on the heap of rags seemed whiter in the 
gathering darkness. 

A deep silence reigned in the old shed that was 
suddenly broken by the murmur of voices. 

Jack walked to the door and glanced through the 
opening of the boards. Two men were approaching, 
talking in subdued tones; they stood for a second, 
then passed on. Jack looked after the retreating 
figures of the men, half tempted to call them back and 
acquaint them with the fact of Terry’s illness; but as 
he was on the point of doing so, he saw them enter a 
shed a short distance away. It stood on four posts, 
and had the distinction of steps. 

Jack glanced at the heap of rags and saw that 
Terry’s eyes were open. 

‘‘ Do you feel better? ” asked Jack, stepping to the 
side of the boy. 

Terry smiled as he said faintly, “Wish I had a 
drink.” 

Jack looked about in vain for a sign of water, and 
said, “ Wait one minute and I’ll get you a drink,” at 


A STRANGE VISIT 


59 


the same instant darting out of the shed and making 
straight for the one he had seen the men enter. As 
he neared it he heard a peculiar noise. The door was 
open a crack, and Jack’s foot was on the lowest step 
when he saw a sight that held him spellbound. 

The interior was fitted up for a living room. It 
contained a table and two chairs, but the object that 
caught Jack’s eye and held him rooted to the spot 
was a bull pup tied by a rope in a corner of the shed. 
It was Bolivar, the valuable dog stolen from Mr. De 
Wolf, and for whose return a reward of fifty dollars 
had been offered. 

The two men, sitting at the table drinking from a 
bottle that stood before them, did not know of the 
boy standing perfectly still, his heart beating wildly 
with suppressed excitement. 

Jack glanced back toward Terry’s retreat, when he 
saw Dickey approaching, followed by the doctor. 

Our hero did not enter. He hurried back just as 
the doctor, a swarthy, foreign-looking man, stepped 
into the shed. Jack felt greatly relieved at the man’s 
presence, but to his disgust the doctor, instead of 
giving his attention to the sick boy on the floor, turned 
an angry, threatening face to Jack. “ What for you 
send for me to come a-here in dis-a place? ” 


6o 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


This boy is sick,” declared Jack, '' and I sent for 
the nearest doctor.” 

He would not tell me where,” cried the medical 
man, scowling at Dickey; “he say, ‘ Come, come, follow 
me.’ He say I get-a my money. Who will pay me my 
money — tell me dat? ” 

“If you will do something for that poor fellow 
there. I’ll pay you,” said Jack, producing his little pile 
of hard-earned money from an inside pocket. A 
change came over the doctor’s sallow face when he 
saw the money in the boy’s hand. Without a word he 
went to the side of the bed, felt the boy’s pulse, and 
glanced at his tongue. He asked a few questions, and 
turned to Jack. “ He’s pretty seek.” 

“ What shall I do for him ? ” was Jack’s direct 
question. 

“ You better get him out er dis place. He must be 
kept warm in bed.” 

He wrote a prescription on a dirty slip of paper, 
and passed it to Jack. “ Three dollar — I have great 
deeficulty in getting to dis-a place.” 

Jack paid him the money without a word, and the 
doctor hastily left. Our hero stood for a minute think- 
ing rapidly. He must take Terry out of the wretched 
place at once; but where? The picture of his own 


A STRANGE VISIT 


6l 


pleasant rooms arose before his mind, and then he 
thought of the numerous spare chambers in the old 
yellow house, — large and sunny, with every comfort, — 
and the warm beds that were so seldom used. He 
made up his mind in a flash to take the sick boy home. 

“ Dickey, I want you to do something else. You 
must get me a cab — a hack — ^any thing will do. I want 
to take Terry out of this place at once. You tell the 
driver he’ll get his money all right — and bring some- 
body as quickly as you can.” 

Dickey disappeared through the doorway, and once 
more Jack was alone with the sick boy. 

‘‘ I wouldn’t talk, Terry,” said our hero, as the sick 
lad started to say something, “ you are too weak and 
I’m afraid that is the reason you fainted.” 

Jack walked to the door and gazed toward the place 
that held the stolen dog. Every nerve in his body 
was alert for action, as he thought of finding Bolivar, 
and returning him to the owner. 

“ I will get him,” cried Jack in his mind. How he 
was going to do it did not make itself clear all at 
once. He must look out for poor Terry first. 

Thoughts in quick succession came into the boy’s 
mind, while he waited for Dickey, who suddenly came 
along with a big, red-faced man. 


62 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


After a short talk with Jack, the man took Terry in 
his arms, and they all marched out of the shed in 
single file, and walked from the dump to a place where 
the cab was waiting. They entered it, and the man 
turned his horse’s head away from the city, and started 
out to the pleasant fields, where an old yellow mansion 
was waiting behind the trees. 


CHAPTER VI 


A NIGHT^S ADVENTURE 

When Jack had told his story to Mrs. McNaugh- 
ton, and the little bootblack was warm and clean in 
bed, our hero sat down to a hurried supper; but the 
picture of the stolen dog in the old shed filled his mind 
to the exclusion of everything else. 

Jack was sorry that it was night because that was a 
bad time to get the dog; but he felt that if he waited 
until daylight Bolivar might be gone. 

Thoughts of the dog slipping away, when his re- 
covery seemed at hand, flashed into the lad’s mind, 
until he felt that he could not wait a moment longer; 
and rising hurriedly from the half-finished supper. 
Jack got his cap and left the house. 

A car was in sight, which our hero boarded, and 
rode to a place where he knew he could take a short 
cut to the marsh. Near a lamp-post, in his dark road, 
he glanced at his watch and hurried along to the path 
that led to the marsh and the dump and the old sheds. 
As he neared the edge of the place he stood for a 
63 


64 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


second and looked about him. It had been almost light 
when he had gone from it earlier in the evening, and 
as his thoughts were occupied at that time with Terry 
and the cabman, he had not noticed the marsh particu- 
larly. Now all was silent and deserted. The old 
sheds looked like great black specters in the gloom. 
There was something terribly lonely in the scene. It 
was a place where dark deeds might be committed, 
and no one ever know. Crime seemed to lurk in the 
shadow of the old sheds, and for the first time in his 
undertaking Jack hesitated. He felt a timid reluc- 
tance to advance another step. Then he grew braver, 
and felt that he could not go back, come what might, 
so summoning all his courage, he walked cautiously 
on, not without a thrill of fear, as he approached the 
shed that stood on the four posts. 

When within a few feet of it. Jack could see a faint 
light through the cracks. He mounted the steps softly, 
and peered into the shed. A lighted candle, in an old 
cup, stood on the table, but the shed was empty. Jack 
felt a pang of disappointment when he did not see the 
dog, and pushing the door a little wider, looked in to 
have a better view. 

As he did so, Bolivar raised himself from his corner 
and jumped toward Jack with a bark of joy, but the 


A NIGHT^S ADVENTURE 65 

stout rope that held him was very short, and he 
tottered back with a whine. 

At the first sound from the dog, Jack jumped off the 
step and hid behind a dump-cart. It would never do 
to be caught that way, thought the boy, who knew 
when he saw the lighted candle that the men had not 
gone far, and might return any minute. He did not 
care to encounter two thieves in that lonely spot. He 
knew he must be very cautious, and his pulse quick- 
ened as he listened to the whines of Bolivar. 

If the men should come along and hear the dog 
making a fuss they might suspect something, and dis- 
cover his hiding place. Suddenly the dog became 
quiet, as footsteps were heard, and the next moment 
two men passed Jack concealed in his place behind the 
cart, and entered the shed. The boy felt that he did 
not get out of the way a minute too soon. 

When the way was clear. Jack tiptoed from his 
hiding place to take another peep. As he did so, he 
became aware of the murmur of voices, very low at 
first, but gradually growing louder, till he heard every 
word. The men were having a dispute about the 
dog, and Jack, alert to catch every word that fell from 
their lips, heard a few words that startled him. 

Once more he mounted the steps, hardly daring to 


66 


JACK TEN field's STAR 


breathe, in his efforts to make no sound. As he peered 
through the crack of the door, he saw the men in their 
places at the table, with the bottle from which they 
frequently drank between them. 

One of them was short and thick-set, with power- 
ful-looking shoulders. He wore a coat buttoned tight 
to his chin, and an old derby hat that had a hole in the 
side about the size of a silver dollar. His companion 
was much slighter, and wore better clothes. 

As Jack’s eyes were fastened on the two men he saw 
the short, thick-set one bring his fist down on the 
table. “ Yer a fool, Tim, not to take the cur back and 
get the fifty — yer dead sure o’ that, yer ain’t sure of 
the other, an’ he won’t offer any more.” 

I tell you,” said the slight one, “ that dog is going 
to New York. He’d he there now if I’d had my 
way. Wot’s fifty when you can get five times as 
much ? ” 

As the conversation progressed. Jack learned that 
the men expected a confederate in New York to dis- 
pose of Bolivar for two hundred and fifty dollars. His 
heart sank when he heard that they were going to 
take the dog that very night. 

“ Le’s have a look at him,” said one of the men, 
dragging Bolivar from his corner. The dog gave a 


A NIGHT^S ADVENTURE 6/ 

low growl, but it changed to a piteous cry when the 
fellow gave him a vicious kick in the head. 

Jack’s fingers tingled at the sight, and a sudden 
daring thought urged him to jump into the shed, 
snatch Bolivar, and run. But cooler judgment showed 
him the folly of any such rash act, so he waited, more 
impatient every minute as he watched the proceedings 
of the two thieves. They had emptied the bottle, 
and sat gazing at the dog in a sort of stupor. After 
a while one of them took up the bottle and, turning it 
upside down, said, Go on, Tim, fill it up again.” 

This led to a little argument, which ended in Tim, 
the slight, well-dressed thief, rising and taking the 
empty bottle under his arm. At the first move. Jack 
had darted back to his hiding place, and did not ven- 
ture out until the man had passed and all was still. 
Then he stole cautiously back to the steps, with his 
heart beating faster as he peered in to see the short 
thief sprawled out in his chair asleep. 

Jack made up his mind in a flash that now was his 
time. He thanked fortune that he had a good jack- 
knife in his pocket with which to cut Bolivar’s ropes, 
and he opened it as he mounted the steps and tiptoed 
into the shed. When Jack’s foot touched the floor of 
the shed, Bolivar gave a low bark. Our hero stopped. 


68 


JACK TENFIELd's STAR 


cut the rope that held him, and had his hand on the 
dog, when the thief opened his eyes and gazed at Jack 
in a sort of drunken stupor. 

But it was only for a second. Then he was on his 
feet — his broad back against the door of the shed. 
“ ’Tain’t quite so easy ter git out as it was ter come 
in; hey sonny,” he said with a leer. 

Jack did not answer. A thousand thoughts flashed 
through his mind, as he faced the thief, the loosened 
dog crouching at his heels. 

“ So yer was goin' ter steal my dog, was yer? ” the 
man went on, enjoying what he thought was Jack’s 
terror at being caught. 

“ Your dog! ” flashed the boy, “ you stole that dog 
from Mr. Ford De Wolf.” 

“ How’d yer know that?” cried the thief with an 
oath. 

Jack saw that he had made a mistake to blurt this 
out, and he was sorry that he had spoken. The thief 
clenched his fist, and shook it at the boy, cursing him 
roundly for his interference. When my pal comes 
back, we’ll see yer won’t make any more trouble.” 

“What will you do?” asked Jack, trying to look 
unconcerned. 

“ See that rope ? ” said the thief, pointing to a short 



‘ When my pal comes back, we’ll see yer won’t make any 

MORE TROUBLE.” — Pa^e 68. 





A night's adventure 


69 


coil of stout rope in the corner behind the door that 
had hitherto escaped Jack’s notice. “ We’ll beat you 
within an inch o’ your miserable life, and den trow 
yer in one o’ dem pools out dere on the marsh.” 

While the fellow had been talking, Jack’s eye had 
gone over every square inch of the shed, and lit on a 
couple of boards in the side. There was a good-sized 
crack in one of them, on a level with his shoulder, and 
both of the boards were very much worn and rotten. 

A desperate resolve came to the lad. He edged 
nearer and nearer to the side of the shed. All at once 
he put his hand into the crack and with a mighty 
effort wrenched the board from its place. 

The thief guarding the door staggered toward him 
with an oath, his fist raised. Like a flash Jack dodged 
him and, reaching the table, knocked over the candle. 
A volley of curses rang out in the darkness. There 
was a wild scramble for the door, over a fallen chair. 
Jack reached the door, when the man caught him by 
the coat and pulled him back. With a twist and a turn 
Jack wrenched himself away, jumped over the steps, 
gained the ground, and started to run for his life, 
leaving half his coat in the powerful grip of the thief. 

On and on ran the boy, and after him the infuriated 
man, uttering curses and calling on Jack to stand or 


70 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


he’d shoot. Jack had all the advantage. The thief, 
whose mind was clouded, and whose legs were shaky 
from the effects of alcohol, had no chance with the 
clear-headed, fleet-footed lad, who gained at every 
step. 

On and on they ran, when all at once Jack heard a 
peculiar whistle, and the next instant he was in some- 
body’s arms. 

“ Hold him, hold him,” shouted his pursuer, and 
Jack realized that he was held by the thief who had 
gone to have the bottle refilled. The knowledge un- 
nerved the boy for a second, then he struck out right 
and left with a strength born of terror, pulled and 
wrenched himself till he tore himself away, and once 
more started to run for dear life. 

The two thieves were close at his heels, the short one 
having caught up during his sudden capture. 

Jack soon discovered that the slim thief was a 
runner, and the boy suddenly made up his mind to 
take a side course and try and lose his pursuers in the 
labyrinth of houses and alleys. 

He headed for the nearest side street, the thief hot 
in pursuit. Jack reached an old fence and with a jump 
was over it. In the darkness he fell into an ash-barrel, 
from which he extricated himself and ran into the 


A NIGHT^S ADVENTURE 7 1 

entryway of a big tenement house, toward a flight of 
stairs. 

By this time, the chase was getting so hot that Jack 
did not have time to choose his road. He must keep 
on or be caught. Up the worn stairs he flew like mad, 
almost knocking over a black-browed man he met at 
the top; down a long hall that all at once brought 
him up against a window, and stopped his flight. 
Jack stood in an agony of fear. He could not turn 
back; even then, the slim thief was mounting the 
stairs. 

He glanced out of the window and breathed a sigh 
of relief when he saw the top of a back porch. He 
gained it at one jump and slid down the side to the 
yard. That jump saved him. Another alley came 
into view, and he ran through it, reaching the street 
at last. 

He walked rapidly, looking back occasionally; but 
he was not followed. The thief had given up the 
chase. 

All at once Jack became aware that people were 
staring at him, and glancing down at himself, he no- 
ticed for the first time his uncouth appearance. His 
cap was gone, his clothes white with ashes, and half 
a sleeveless coat dangled from one shoulder. 


72 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


He gave himself a hurried brushing, and looked to 
see if his car was in sight, when it suddenly dawned 
upon him that he was not presentable in his present 
condition to ride in a car, so he hurried along, making 
himself as inconspicuous as possible. 

After a while the crowds thinned out, and he found 
himself on a straight road for home. When he had 
walked a good part of the way, he was so thoroughly 
tired that he sat for a minute on a low fence skirting 
a field to rest. 

He went over the exciting events of the night in 
his mind, thankful that he had succeeded in getting 
away from the two thieves. He was very much dis- 
appointed at his failure to capture Bolivar, and he 
wondered what had become of the dog. In all prob- 
ability it had escaped from the shed, but he did not feel 
at all sure, and as the dog was too young to find his 
way home. Jack came to the conclusion that the thieves 
would search the neighborhood until they found him. 

As this thought presented itself to the boy, he de- 
termined to see Mr. De Wolf that very night, and tell 
him the whole story. Suddenly the reward flashed 
into Jack’s mind. Fifty dollars! What a splendid 
thing it would have been to have earned it. 

With a deep regret at his failure, the boy jumped 


A night's adventure 


73 


off the fence and continued his way. It was growing 
late, and he wanted to get home. He had not taken 
five steps when a slight noise made him turn and look 
behind. At the same instant a dog jumped toward 
him with a bark of delight. Jack Tenfield’s heart gave 
a bound. It was Bolivar ! 


CHAPTER VII 


BUSY DAYS 

Some time after the exciting events of the last 
chapter Jack received a letter from Burge Tebbett that 
sent his spirits up at once to the most enthusiastic point. 

Everything was progressing finely at Horn Point, 
and Burge had built a camp at Sun Island which 
he thought would be a jolly place to camp in for the 
summer. 

When Jack read this piece of news, he wrote at 
once to his aunt and asked her permission to have his 
summer’s outing with Burge. 

Then he got out his fishing tackle and proceeded to 
mend it on the back porch. He had almost finished 
his task, when Nan appeared, and pulling his coat 
sleeve coaxed him to come into the library a moment. 

‘'What for?” asked the boy, intent on his work. 

“ I’ll tell you when we get there^ — it’s a secret. Oh, 
do come. Jack.” 

He arose reluctantly and followed Nannie, telling 
her to hurry, because he was very busy. 

74 


BUSY DAYS 


75 


Now, Jack,” said the girl, when she had carefully 
closed the door against interruption, I’m going to let 

you read this poem that I’ve written and ” 

Is that all ? ” cried the lad, turning away in dis- 
gust ; you’ve always got some great secret that turns 
out to be an old poem or something. I don’t want to 
read it, I haven’t got time now.” 

“ Oh, Jack ! this one is different from all the rest. 
I want you to read it so that you can tell me which 
magazine you think would give the most money for 
it. You know. Jack, I never sent one of my poems be- 
fore, and when I get the money I’ll ‘ divvy ’ and we’ll 
have a splendid time.” 

Well, let’s see it,” said Jack, with a resigned air, 
dropping into a chair. 

Nan put her hand down the neckband of her 
dress and began quite a gymnastic performance in 
a struggle to reach a crumpled ball of paper, near 
her waistband, that was plainly visible from the out- 
side. 

She stood on tiptoes and raised her elbows very 
high, but could not get it until Jack pushed it and held 
it with his closed fist, when she finally pulled it forth 
and passed it to her brother in triumph. 

Jack smoothed out the ball and read the following: 


76 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


“ Wild Nature! 

I fain would as a bird 
Sing wild and free, 

In minstrelsy. 

“ And like the wild gazelle 
I’d bound with grace, 

And have my clothes all trimmed 
With cobweb lace. 

“ Oh, sun, I’d shine as thou. 

Along the hours. 

And like the bees I’d sip 
On summer flowers. 

“ Is that all of it? ” said Jack, looking at Nan in a 
bewildered sort of way, ignorant of the fact that the 
very best thing about Nan’s poem was its brevity. 

‘‘ That’s all,” said Nan, “ what do you think of it? ” 

“ It’s awful short. Nan, but it sounds good, just like 
poems in books.” 

Nan’s eyes sparkled. ‘‘ It’s the best thing I ever 
did, — came just like an inspiration ten minutes ago, 
and I’m going to send it, but first I want to be sure 
that it’s all right. Now let me read it aloud to you, 
and see if anything could be improved on. Nan took 
the paper and began : 

“ Wild Nature ! 

“ Say, Nan,” interrupted Jack, haven’t you got 
it too wild? I mean haven’t you used the word 


BUSY DAYS 


77 


‘ wild ’ too often ? You call it * wild * nature, then 
you want to sing ‘ wild,’ and there’s another ' wild ’ 
some place, isn’t there ? ” 

No, Jack, ‘ wild ’ is the right word to express it,” 
said Nan, — which remark, as you perceive, was 
strictly true. 

“ Now, Jack, I’ll read the second verse, and see if 
it’s perfect. 

“And like the wild gazelle.” 

‘‘What is a gazelle, anyway?” interrupted Jack. 

“ How do I know ? ” returned Nan. “ I’ve read 
somewhere about bounding gracefully as a gazelle, 
haven’t you ? ” 

“ No,” said Jack, shaking his head, “ I never heard 
of it — it sounds to me like a fool-name. I’d cross it 
out if I were you.” 

“ Cross out ‘ gazelle ’ ! I guess not ; why, that’s the 
best word in the whole poem, that and ‘ fain ’ are real 
poetical,” declared Nan, and continued to read : 

“ And like the wild gazelle 
I’d bound with grace, 

And have my clothes all trimmed 
With cobweb lace.” 

“Those last two lines are all right,” said Jack, 
“ ’cause you know just what they mean.” 


78 JACK tenfield's star 

Nan smiled radiantly and read on : 

“ Oh, sun, I’d shine as thou, 

Along the hours, 

And like the bees I"d sip 
On summer flowers.” 

‘‘ I don't like the word ‘ sip/ " cried Jack, it's 
silly. Why don't you say, ‘ And like the bees I'd eat 
off summer flowers ' ? " 

Nannie looked at her brother with the indulgent 
smile of superior wisdom. 

Oh, no, ‘ sip ' is the very word, — bees don't eat 
like horses, you know, they just sip daintily; now. 
Jack, where shall I send it? " 

“ How much money do you suppose they'll pay for 
it ? " was the answer. 

Oh, I don't know ; I read one time that a noted 
poet, Byron, or Longfellow, or somebody, only got 
five dollars for a first poem, so I suppose I won't get 
more than that." 

Five dollars for that thing! " cried Jack in an un- 
guarded burst of honest conviction. 

“Jack Tenfield, aren't you mean? I might get a 
great deal more than five dollars ; stranger things have 
happened, and when I get the money I'll keep it 
and " 

“ I didn't exactly mean it wasn't worth it," said Jack, 


BUSY DAYS 


79 


trying to be diplomatic, “ it may be for all I know, but 
it seems a great deal of money for such a little poem — 
only a few lines, you know. Now, if it was longer 
you’d get more, wouldn’t you?” 

“ I’m not sure,” said Nan. If I thought so. I’d 
write a lot more verses, say twenty verses at five dol- 
lars a verse; wouldn’t it count up? ” 

I wouldn’t write the twenty,” said the boy, sorry 
he had mentioned it, and longing to get away, I’d 
send the short one first, and when that is printed, 
write a long one.” 

“ That’s just what I thought of doing. Jack, and 
when I get the money we’ll have a splendid time. 
I’ll buy a whole quart of ice cream and some 
Washington pies, and we’ll have a feast for one 
thing.” 

Nannie thereupon sent her poem to one of the fore- 
most magazines of the day, and dreamed dreams of 
the future. 

But Nannie, like Martha, in the Good Book, was 
busy about many things,” and poems were not the 
only tasks that took up her time and attention. 

She had several flower beds to care for, and was 
working away one morning, weeding her pansy beds, 
when Terry appeared. 


8o 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


Several weeks had passed since the little bootblack 
had found shelter under the friendly roof of the old 
yellow house, and even in that short time he had im- 
proved so much that he did not look like the ragged 
little fellow whom Jack had taken from misery. His 
face was shining with happiness, though Nannie de- 
clared it was the result of an overdose of soap. 

Terry was a constant source of interest and amuse- 
ment to the girl, who showed him all over the old 
house, from cellar to garret, and took great delight in 
his naive remarks. 

‘‘D’yer know what IVe been thinkin’?” said the 
lad, watching Nannie among her flowers, that lay in 
a flood of sunshine. 

Something worth while, I know,” laughed the 

girl. 

‘‘ Fve been thinkin’ dat de sun knows his busi- 
ness.” 

“ ' His business ! ’ What is it ? ” asked Nan. 

Same as mine — de shine business.” 

“ Terry,” said Nan, looking sober, “ you are not 
going into that business again. Mr. Ford De Wolf»told 
Jack that just as soon as you were a little stronger 
he’d give you a place in his big warehouse. You’d learn 
the wool business, and that will be very nice — ever so 


BUSY DAYS 


8l 


much better than being out in all kinds of weather and 
shining old shoes; you can’t do that, Terry, because 
you are not strong.” 

“ Thanks,” said the boy, ‘‘ you’ve all been awful 
good to me, and I’ll do my best; but wouldn’t I just 
like to make flowers grow all the time? ” 

“ Do you like flowers ? ” asked the girl. 

Yes, they’re great. I look at those blooms dere 
every day, dey’re so pretty; but a good big shine, like 
to-day, makes them handsome.” 

I love them, too,” said Nan, plucking a large blue- 
black pansy and giving it to Terry, “ they always make 
me think of little children’s faces, there is a softness 
and a brightness about them.” 

“ Dey make me think of breastpins, dandy ones,” 
said Terry, adorning his coat with Nan’s flower. 

I didn’t know you were so fond of flowers, Terry, 
and I’ll give you some to plant and care for your- 
self.” 

A garden all to meself. Hooray!” cried Terry, 
throwing up his cap. 

But Nan did not have the pleasure of starting the 
little bootblack in a garden. That very day there was 
a visit from the little old man, with the bushy black 
beard, who Nannie and Jack had supposed was Mr. 


82 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


McNaughton, but who in reality was Mr. Jacob 
Stein. He had just closed a bargain with Aunt Cor- 
delia, which made him the owner of the old yellow 
house, with its trees, and fields, and bright gardens. 

The next time Nannie weeded her pansy beds she 
watered them with her tears. 

Oh, Jack, doesn’t it seem too bad to part with this 
dear old place?” cried Nan a few days later. ‘‘I’m 
sure father never would have sold it.” 

“ I can’t say what father might have done. Nan. 
You see he had lost all his money.” 

“ But, Jack, auntie has heaps of money, and she 
knows that father loved this place.” 

“ Didn’t you make the remark, once upon a time, 
Nan, that Aunt C. was stingy? ” 

“ Yes, I did, but surely it would be a good thing — a, 
safe investment for her, to own all this land.” 

“ Perhaps she doesn’t think so,” returned the boy. 
“At any rate, it’s gone out of the family, and I’m 
sorry. Professor Lesch will be disappointed, too; he 
hoped that it might be saved.” 

That night, when everything was still, and the first 
breath of summer seemed to blow over the trees, a girl 
stood looking down the long driveway and past the 
barn to the russet orchard beyond. 


BUSY DAYS 83 

Oh, father,’’ sobbed the girl, brushing away the 
tears that fell warm and fast. 

Why, Nan,” said a boyish voice at her side, 
“ what are you doing here all alone? ” 

“ Taking a last look,” said Nannie, and they went 
indoors together. 

The next morning the boy and girl left the old 
yellow mansion forever. 

Jack went to join his friend Burge, at Horn Point, 
and Nannie to begin a new life in her aunt’s summer 
home at Newport. 


CHAPTER VIII 


HORN POINT 

When Jack reached Horn Point he was met at the 
landing by Burge Tebbett, who had been his sum- 
mer companion for almost ten years, ever since the 
time that the late Dr. Tenfield had bought a palatial 
cottage, called “ Keewaydin,” and the two little fel- 
lows had dug in the sand together with their pails and 
shovels. 

They hurried through the quaint old town, with its 
tiny houses and old-fashioned gardens, to Captain Teb- 
bett’s cottage. 

When near it Burge pointed across to Sun Island, 
where he had built the shanty,” as he called it, that 
was going to be their quarters for the summer. 

Jack’s face beamed when he saw it, but before he 
had a chance to make any comment, the old Captain 
appeared and gave him a hearty welcome. 

“We were right sorry to hear that your folks 
weren’t a-comin’ this summer. What are you going to 
do with ‘ Keewaydin ’ ? ” 


84 


HORN POINT 85 

It’s been taken by some friends of my Aunt Cor- 
delia’s. They are thinking of buying it.” 

“ Well, now, it ’ll seem queer to see strange folk up 
thar,” said the Captain. 

“ I expect you an’ Burge ’ll have some great sailing 
this summer,” he went on. 

“ Come ’round to the yard and take a look at the 
boat. You’d never know her, all fixed up.” 

Jack followed Captain Tebbett into the yard, and 
Burge began to give a few finishing touches to the 
Rocket: 

It was a ship’s “ longboat,” decked over for’ard, 
which gave quite a roomy cuddy, and a thwart that was 
built around in the standing room aft. It was cat- 
rigged, with a short jib, and taken altogether the old 
rowboat was made to look quite like a yacht. Being 
well built and of good material, she was able to stand 
many hard knocks in her new career. 

Jack’s eyes sparkled as he glanced over the Rocket. 

“ Well, how do you think she looks? ” asked Burge, 
touching her up here and there. 

‘^First-rate; fine!” exclaimed Jack with enthusiasm. 
“ You’ve done a good job and ought to be proud of it.” 

“ I think she looks pretty fair, myself,” said Burge, 
straightening up. “ To-morrow we launch her. I 


86 


JACK TENFIELD'^S STAR 


have a few things I want to carry over to the shanty 
and we can take them all at once.” 

‘‘ Aren’t you going to sleep over there to-night ? ” 
asked Jack, who was very eager to begin the jolly life 
on Sun Island. 

‘‘ Mrs. Tebbett wants us to have supper here to- 
night,” said Burge, ‘‘ so I think we might as well wait 
and go over to-morrow.” 

“ Let’s take a walk till supper,” said Jack. I want 
to tell you a bushel of news.” 

I’m with you in a jiff,” said Burge, darting be- 
hind the cottage. 

Jack sauntered about, going over every part of the 
Rocket, till Burge came into view with a great armful 
of driftwood that he had gathered for Mrs. Tebbett’s 
fire. 

She appeared at the door just as the two lads were 
starting off and said, “ You boys just git up an ap- 
petite, I’m goin’ ter have clam fritters fer tea.” 

Get up an appetite,” said the Captain, joining his 
spouse at the door; they don’t have to. I rather 
guess it’s ^ high-water mark all the time,’ hey? ” 

“ That’s right. Captain,” said Jack, as they started 
for the beach to see the remains of a coal barge that 
had been wrecked during the winter. 


HORN POINT 


87 


During the walk, Jack told Burge about the loss of 
his father’s fortune, and the change it would make in 
his affairs. 

What are you going to do now?” asked Burge, 
greatly interested. 

‘‘ I’m going to finish at school and enter college. I 
haven’t quite decided what I shall do after that,” said 
Jack. 

Well, I’d like to go to college, and Mr. Wingate 
says I’ll be ready in another year,” said Burge. “ You 
didn’t know I was studying with him, did you ? ” 

‘‘ No,” cried Jack. “ That’s good news. What a jolly 
time we’ll have together.” 

‘‘ Hold on a minute,” said Burge with a smile, “ I’m 
not going to college. I have had an offer that doesn’t 
come every day, and I’m going to take it.” 

“ What is it? ” asked Jack, all interest. 

‘‘Do you see that black hulk out there?” said 
Burge, pointing at arm’s length to their right. “ It’s 
the Suzanne, commanded by my uncle, Captain Her- 
ford. He sails for San Francisco, before the cold 
weather, where he is having a dredging machine 
built. In the spring he is through with the Suzanne, 
and will start for Alaska on the big dredger, and I’m 
going with him.” 


88 


JACK TENFIELiyS STAR 


“ To Alaska ? asked Jack. What is he going 
there for? ” 

Gold,” said Burge. There's millions in the 
water there, the creeks and rivers, for the man that can 
work it. It's the biggest thing of its kind that you ever 
heard about,'' continued Burge. This dredger that 
is in process of construction is the property of a New 
Yorker. Captain Herford says it is a wonderful 
thing. You will probably hear him tell all about it; he 
comes ashore almost every day and drops in to see us. 

I want to make all the money I can this summer,'' 
the boy went on. You see it's a big undertaking, and 
the Captain says a few dollars will come in very 
handy, so we'll see if we can make some money on the 
Rocket'' 

“ I'd like to go with you,'' cried Jack, who had been 
deeply interested in everything that Burge had told 
him, and just think, Burge, I've got fifty dollars al- 
ready.'' 

“ Fifty dollars,'' repeated Burge, and you've been 
telling me about being poor. Tell me how you made 
it, will you ? '' 

'' I didn't make it,'' laughed Jack ; at least, not in 
the way you mean. It was given to me.'' 

Jack thereupon related the whole story of Bolivar, 


HORN POINT 89 

from the very beginning, to the complete satisfaction 
of his friend. 

They were still talking about it when a well-known 
sound made them turn to see the Captain at his cot- 
tage door, waving an old fog-horn at them. 

Many a time Jack had taken it down from its place 
on a rusty nail near the Captain’s kitchen door and 
blown on it when he was only a little fellow. 

It was a merry supper party that night in Mrs. Teb- 
bett’s homely kitchen. 

Burge repeated the episode of the bulldog for the 
Captain and his wife to their great enjoyment. 

Fifty dollars fer a dog — land sakes,” said the Cap- 
tain’s wife. “ I’d git him fifty dogs fer that.” 

But not fifty Bolivars,” said Jack. 

Sarah,” said the Captain, shaking a crisp brown 
fritter, on the end of a fork, at his spouse, “ dogs 
are all alike to women-folk, but I tell you thar’s as 
much difference between that Bolivar that Jack tells 
about an’ the dogs ’round here, as there is between a 
full-rigged clipper an’ a stone sloop.” 

“ Mebbe,” said Sarah laconically, “ but I’m doubt- 
ful.” 

The Captain swallowed his fritter and winked at 
Jack, till his merry eyes narrowed to mere slits. 


90 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


The most doubtful critter in the world, Sarah, is 
a hen.’' 

The boys laughed aloud at the quaint manner in 
which the Captain screwed his weather-beaten face, 
and Sarah shook all over with good humor, well used 
as she was to these remarks. 

Jack always liked to get the old Captain started on 
some tale of his early life, when he went whaling, but 
the old man did not seem inclined to talk. 

After supper he lit his pipe and sat on his doorstep 
while Sarah watered some nasturtiums that grew in 
an old boat, filled with loam, and ornamented the front 
yard. 

A few minutes later, a tall, sea-browned man joined 
him, and was introduced to Jack as Captain Herford, 
— Mrs. Tebbett’s brother — of the Suzanne, 



The Bv^ys headed for their camp to begin housekeeping 

Page 91. 





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CHAPTER IX 


SUN ISLAND 

The next morning, after breakfast, the boys 
launched the Rocket and took a trial trip. 

They found everything about it to their satisfaction, 
although Burge thought she was a little slow. 

When they had sailed around for about an hour, 
they returned to the Captain’s landing to get the 
things that Burge wished to carry over to Sun Island. 

An oilskin suit, a pair of high rubber boots, his 
hshing tackle and gun, a few books, bedding, cooking 
utensils, a small oil stove, and a broom, made up the 
cargo. 

When these were aboard, the boys headed for their 
camp to begin housekeeping. 

The shanty that Burge had made on Sun Island 
was built of parts of an old wreck. There were two 
rooms downstairs, and a loft reached by a ladder. 

The door, which had at one time opened into a 
ship’s cabin, swung back toward the sides of the 
shanty with a slant, giving it a queer, one-sided ap- 
91 


92 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


pearance. There were several tiny windows on the 
sides, that had also done service on the staterooms of 
a vessel. 

Taken as a whole, Burge Tebbett’s summer resi- 
dence was a quaint, jolly-looking place, and very in- 
geniously put together. 

Jack secured the Rocket and took a survey of the 
island. It was a barren stretch of high land, rocky 
at one end, but grassy and level around the shanty. 

Flocks of sea-birds were wont to come among the 
rocks, and there was good shooting in the season. 

Before they carried their belongings from the boat, 
they swept out the shanty and gave it a pretty thor- 
ough cleaning. 

Burge brushed down the sides, while Jack grew so 
enthusiastic over the house-cleaning that he started 
in to wash the small windows. 

When everything looked neat, they carried in the 
things, made up the two beds, put the books on a small 
shelf, hung up the pots and kettles, and then sat down 
to look over the results of their labor. 

‘‘ I suppose I’ve forgotten something, but we 
haven’t far to go,” said Burge. 

Jack walked to the door and looked over the stretch 
of water before him. He took a deep breath, drinking 


SUN ISLAND 


93 


in the crisp sea air, saying : “ This is great, Burge. 
I feel just like standing on my head. By the way, 
where are your lobster traps ? I didn't see any." 

“ They are all on the other side. Tve discovered a 
place that must be the lobsters’ favorite retreat. My 
traps have been filled with them for the last month. 
We’ll go out there by and by, and have a look at them. 

“ In the meantime, suppose we take a sail to the 
lighthouse.’’ 

The boys not only visited the lighthouse, but went 
over all the familiar places that Jack had not seen for 
almost a year. 

Long before the noon hour the boys felt, as Jack 
described it, ‘‘ A deep hollow within that must be 
filled,’’ so they headed for the island to have dinner. 
Burge dug some clams on the beach and started in to 
make a clam stew, while Jack built a roaring fire of 
driftwood to bake potatoes. When they were ready 
he swung a kettle to boil eggs and make a pot of tea. 

These viands, together with some of Mrs. Tebbett’s 
home-made bread and butter, went a long way toward 
filling “ the deep hollow within.’’ 

When the pots and kettles were washed and put 
away after dinner, the boys decided to sail again. 

They passed the Suzanne, but as there was no sign 


94 jack tenfield's star 

of life aboard, they did not pay a visit to Captain Her- 
ford. 

Late in the afternoon they headed for Sun Island, 
and on the way went to see Burge’s lobster traps. 
There were three of these scattered about a quarter of 
a mile apart. 

They found the first trap they visited filled with 
crabs, which the boys threw back into the water. 
The second had several crabs and a short ” lobster. 
These also were consigned to the sea, and Burge be- 
gan to think that his usual luck had turned against 
him, when he reached his third trap. On hauling it 
up, the boys saw five dark green beauties, squirming 
for more room to move around in their crowded 
quarters. 

These were quickly placed in the Rocket and the 
boys started for Captain Tebbett’s landing to give him 
a couple for supper. 

Mrs. Tebbett was much pleased to see the boys, but 
would take but one lobster and in return passed them 
a basket of hot biscuit. 

I thought you boys would like ’em over there with 
your tea, especially as the Captain said he’d half a 
mind to go over and be comp’ny.” 

Where is father ? I’ll take him now,” said Burge. 


SUN ISLAND 95 

'' He’s gone to the village, but I expect him back 
any minute.” 

“We’ll wait for him,” said Jack, and the boys went 
avshore. 

When Captain Tebbett appeared, he had a good- 
sized bundle, which he threw aboard the Rocket, 
saying : 

“ I was going over to see how you were getting on, 
and there’s a few things in that bundle that I jest 
threw in your boat that Burge clean forgot.” 

Then the Captain and the two boys got aboard and 
sailed over to the island, where supper was soon in 
progress. 

Jack liked lobsters. They always tasted better at 
Horn Point than they did at home, but never did any- 
thing taste quite so delicious as the lobster supper 
that night in the shanty. 

“ I s’pose you lads feel jest like Robinson Crusoe in 
this here bunk, and it’s a pretty good one too,” said 
the Captain, lighting his pipe after tea, “ but if Cru- 
soe should happen in jest now,” he continued, “ I bet 
he’d be glad ter borrer some o’ your canned stuff, that 
is, if he was still on his island.” 

“ It must be great fun to be wrecked on an island, 
away off somewhere,” cried Jack. 


g6 JACK TENFIELD^’S STAR 

You might find it warn’t sich fun after all/’ said 
the old Captain, “ it might mean sickness and starva- 
tion and death, and what’s worse than all — cannibals, 
though there be folk,” he went on, “ who like the 
strange life in some o’ them foreign places. There 
was Jack Lamb,” said the Captain, growing reminis- 
cent, first mate on the Genevieve, ’way back in ’49. 
He disappeared after a certain trip and everybody 
thought he’d been lost, or that the wild men had got 
’im, but one day I met his brother Sam, and what did 
Sam tell me but that that fellow Jack was a-livin’ — 
that he was king of an island and a strange people, 
forty miles off the coast of Africa. He’d mar- 
ried a native woman, and told Sam he’d done 
with the outside world forever. Queer chap was 
Lamb.” 

“ Then there was Mullen, he was captain of a 
whaler for pretty nigh twenty year. He was lost for 
a good ten year, and everybody thought he was dead, 
when one day he turns up and tells a tale that would 
make some of these ship stories that you boys read 
pretty tame.” 

“What happened to him?” asked Jack. 

“ ’Bout everything that could happen to mortal man 
in this world,” said the Captain, “ but there’s goin’ to 


SUN ISLAND 97 

be a storm/’ he said suddenly, rising with a stretch, 
“ that is, if my bones are as c’rect as usual. 

‘‘ Yes, sir,” he continued, walking to the door and 
glancing at the sky, ‘‘ we’re goin’ to have a bit of a 
squall to-night.” 

“ When was the worst storm you ever remember 
around here?” asked Jack, loath to have the Captain 
go when he was in a story-telling mood. 

“ The worst storm ? ” repeated the old man. “ Well, 
now, I rather think that was the night we got Burge, 
nearly fourteen years ago come November.” 

The boy had heard the story many times, but there 
was always a certain interest in it. A vessel had gone 
to pieces on the rocks below the point. Captain Teb- 
bett and the life-savers had put out the lifeboat in a 
terrible sea, but before they could reach the only man 
who seemed to have survived the wreck made by the 
wind and waves, he had been drowned before their 
eyes in the desperate effort he had made to save a 
little child, who was picked up afterward by the Cap- 
tain, in a manner almost miraculous, brought up by 
the Captain and his good wife, and named for their 
only child, who had died in infancy. 

Briefly, this was the story of the boy Burge who 
was Jack’s friend. Burge liked to hear the old Cap- 


98 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


tain tell the story. It started a train of thought in the 
hoy’s mind about his people, and what his real name 
could be, and the relationship he bore to the man who 
had made such a desperate effort to save his life. 

He liked to dwell on the fact that Mrs. Tebbett 
often said, '' You were somebody, Burge, for your little 
clothes were the very finest, and I’ve saved them, 
every one.” 

Well now,” said Captain Tebbett, who had been 
smoking away in silence, I think I’ll start home ’fore 
it gets any darker. It’s time I turned in.” 

The boys rowed the Captain to his landing and re- 
turned to the shanty just as the wind changed and the 
rain began to fall in torrents. 

It turned out to be a wild night, but the lads slept as 
peacefully under the tight roof of their shanty as any 
sleeper in all the broad land. 


CHAPTER X 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 

The days passed quickly at Sun Island, and the 
boys were very busy most of the time. 

When the hotel was filled with guests, Burge and 
Jack had made arrangements with the manager to 
supply lobsters, clams, and all the fresh fish they could 
catch. 

The summer was well on the way, however, before 
they made any money on the Rocket. Their first busi- 
ness trip was to carry five gushing, giggling girls, who 
paid ten cents apiece to be ferried to the shore. After 
that, there was hardly a day that they did not take 
somebody, and the little pile of money that the lads 
were saving began to grow larger. 

One evening after a particularly successful day, the 
boys received a visit from Captain Herford. 

He talked of the proposed trip of the Suzanne for 
nearly an hour. He gave glowing descriptions of 
the life on a big dredger in a place like Alaska, where 
game was plentiful. He told the boys about the fine 
LiTC 99 


lOO JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

salmon fishing and bear hunting, and left them both 
more eager than ever to join his expedition. 

I’ve made up my mind to go, Jack. Captain Teb- 
bett said he would go himself if he were fifteen years 
younger.” 

“ I wish I could go,” said Jack, “ but it was my 
father’s wish that I should go to college.” 

The words had hardly passed his lips when he saw 
Burge give a start, his eyes fastened on one of the 
small windows. 

Jack’s eyes followed and saw a girl’s white face 
peering in at them. 

The boys were on their feet in an instant, and Jack 
rushed to the door to find Nannie standing before him. 

‘‘Why, Nan! how did you ever get here?” cried 
Jack, leading her into the room. 

“ I’ve run away,” said the girl with a sob. 

“Run away! When? where? Tell us about it!” 
cried the boy, surprised and alarmed at his sister’s 
presence there at that time of night. Nannie sank into 
a chair, on the verge of tears, her hat lay in her lap 
and the rebellious “ pigtails ” stood out from her ears, 
straighter than ever. 

Burge ran to the closet and poured a glass of 
milk. 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 


lOI 


“ Drink this, Nannie,'' said the boy, you look all 
tired out." 

“ Oh, Jack, it’s terrible down there. I’m so lone- 
some I could cry all day," said the woe-begone Nan, 
sipping the milk. 

“ Lonesome at Newport ! Why, that’s queer," said 
Jack, “ I thought you’d have no end of fun." 

I don’t have any fun at all. Aunt Cordelia and 
Isabelle go about a great deal, and I’m all alone, and 
it’s worse since Nora’s gone." 

“ Nora gone ! ’’ exclaimed Jack. 

Yes, Aunt Cordelia quarreled with her about me 
and sent her away, and she’s gone to keep house for 
her brother, who is a widower with five children. Nora 
cried when she was going, arid promised to write to 
me. And Isabelle’s engaged to a man ! Isn’t it dread- 
ful ? ’’ said Nan, the tears actually coming at this 
awful piece of news. 

Engaged to be married ? ’’ asked Jack. 

Nan nodded. “ He’s an Englishman named Waters, 
and I don’t like him at all, and — oh. Jack, it’s terrible 
to live with auntie." 

“ Well, Nan, I suppose it isn’t very pleasant, but 
you will have to live with her for a while." 

‘‘ Why couldn’t I live here with you and 


102 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

Burge? cried Nan, drying her eyes and looking 
practical. 

“ Now, Nannie, you know that is impossible. This 
is no place for a girl. You shouldn’t have run away. 
It’s a bad thing for a girl to do. How did you get 
here?” 

“ Isabelle gave me some money last week, and I 
started this morning in the train, when she had gone 
to ride with Aunt Cordelia. I left a note saying I was 
going to live with you. When I got to the point, I 
walked all the way to the Captain’s landing, and I 
rowed over in the Captain’s boat. I didn’t see any- 
body around, so I thought you could take it back.” 

“ A girl in a rowboat, alone — at night ! ” cried Jack 
indignantly. Look here. Nan, that is the most fool- 
hardy thing I ever heard of, and you’ll be drowned 
or something if you keep on. Why didn’t you stay at 
Captain Tebbett’s? I don’t see what we’re going to 
do with you here.” 

Nannie’s lips quivered, and she burst into tears. 
It was the last straw, to get a scolding from Jack, 
when she had braved everything to come to him. 

There, don’t cry,” said the boy, sorry that he had 
said so much, '' it’s all right and we’ll manage some 
way.” 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 


103 


Of course we’ll manage,” Burge answered. “ I 
bet Nan is hungry, so first of all we’d better get her 
something to eat.” He made a dive for the closet, 
and brought forth a plate and cup. 

‘‘ I don’t want anything. I’m going back,” said 
tired, disappointed little Nannie, rising and going 
toward the door. 

You can’t go back to-night,” said her brother, 
placing his hand gently on her arm. Now, Nannie, 
be sensible. I didn’t mean that I wasn’t glad to see 
you and all that, but I was scared for your sake, that’s 
all. We’re having no end of a good time, Burge and 
I. Here, eat some of this bread and cheese — it’s Mrs. 
Tebbett’s, and it’s good.” 

Nan began to nibble at first, but she had the appetite 
of a growing girl, and in a very short time the bread 
and cheese disappeared. So did Nan’s tears. She 
glanced approvingly over the shanty, and smiled at 
the boys. I had no idea it was such a good place. 
Who made it? ” 

“ Mr. Burge Tebbett, ship’s carpenter, fisher- 
man, sailor, etc., etc., at your service,” said the boy, 
placing one hand on his chest and making a low 
bow. 

Good humor was restored. For the next few min- 


104 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

utes there was a merry chatter in the shanty, and 
Nan’s laughter was the loudest of all. 

The boys gave up their rooms on the ground 
floor ” to Nannie, while they slept in the loft. 

Nannie did not sleep for a long time in her strange 
bed. She lay wide awake, and listened to the roar of 
the breakers. She pictured to herself how nice it 
would be to live always with Jack and Burge, and 
keep house for them. What good times they would 
have! What good times she and her brother had al- 
ways had together. Happy memories of bygone 
pranks crowded themselves into Nan’s thoughts. She 
remembered a time, some years before, when Professor 
Lesch had taken them to the circus, to see the ani- 
mals.” How much they had enjoyed every minute 
of their stay, and yet had gone home with a pang of 
disappointment because he had forgotten to take them 
to the “ side shows,” where, according to the startling 
pictures painted in flaring colors on the bill-boards, 
more wonders were collected in one small space than 
could be found elsewhere in the wide world. 

She recalled a whispered conversation with Jack the 
next day, their burning curiosity to see the snake 
charmer and the wild man, captured in the heart of 
Africa, who ate raw beef and was chained in his cage. 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 


105 


At last desire grew so strong that they had stolen away 
together, walked to the circus grounds, paid ten cents 
apiece, and really entered the abode of the marvelous. 
They had been in the nick of time to hear the man tell 
the people about the freaks. 

They had looked in awe on the youth who made his 
dinner of broken glass, and said he enjoyed it. In 
Nan’s eyes the bearded lady was very beautiful, while 
Jack was in a trance of delight over the tattooed man. 

The cage of the wild man was covered with a linen 
cloth, but a huge piece of raw beef, stuck on the end 
of a pole, proclaimed his presence. Jack was so excited 
over this freak that when the man uncovered the cage, 
and the crowd gathered, he had “ shinned ” half-way 
up a post to have a good view and only came down 
when Nan begged him to “ boost ” her up to see a 
wild-eyed, frowsy-haired man walking on all-fours 
and glaring at his captor; but what Nan never could 
forget was the fact that when the crowd had gone, and 
only herself and Jack were left to gaze on the covered 
cage, the wild man had sneaked out and said to Jack, 

Say, bub, give us a match.” 

Jack had been rendered speechless at this tame re- 
quest from a wild man, and had snatched Nan’s hand 
and hurried out of the tent with breathless haste. 


I06 JACK tenfield's star 

As these memories flooded Nan’s mind she thought, 
more than ever, that she ought to keep house for Jack. 
She admitted to herself that she couldn’t cook very 
well, and with this admission the dinner of the cake 
and roast chicken flashed through her mind, causing 
a smile in the darkness at the thought of ‘‘ that awful 
cake, like an immense leaden mass,” as she said to 
herself. Suddenly she made up her mind to learn 
from Nora how to be a first-rate cook. She wouldn’t 
tell Jack anything about it until she had mastered the 
art, then she would prepare a grand dinner, and give 
him a surprise. Immediately Nan’s active mind pic- 
tured a table, all set with heaps of good things. She 
even printed the menu for the dinner. There would 
be soup, of course, and Nan, being original, decided 
that she was tired of common, every-day soup. She 
would make a wonderful “ new ” soup that nobody 
had ever tasted. Just how she was going to do this 
did not make itself quite clear to Nan’s mind, but 
visions of squeezing juice from fruits, and boiling 
water and a meat bone all together, seemed nice and 
‘‘ new.” 

When it was ready she would pour it into the tureen 
and instead of a sprinkle of salt and pepper she would 
shake flowers on the top. Yes,” thought Nan, well 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST 10/ 

pleased at her original soup, “ flowers would certainly 
be uncommon, at least in soup.’' 

She went through the whole menu in her mind, and 
did not forget cream cakes and apple tarts, of which 
she and Jack were very fond. 

From visions of a dinner for Jack her thoughts flew 
to Aunt Cordelia and Isabelle. She wondered what 
they would say when they discovered her flight. Per- 
haps they would feel very badly to think that she had 
gone forever. They might feel remorse of conscience, 
at which thought Nan felt quite a martyr, and went 
deep into a lively discussion between Isabelle and her 
aunt, in the midst of which she drifted off to a dream- 
ful sleep, that was even more wonderful than Nan’s 
original cooking. 

She dreamt that she was living on a desert island 
with Jack and Burge and, in the incongruous course 
of dreams. Aunt Cordelia and Isabelle and Mr. Waters 
were there, also. Jack and Burge had discovered a 
real wild man ” — without the cage — on the island, 
and had invited him home to one of Nan’s dinners. 
When they asked him what he would like to eat he 
had pointed to Aunt Cordelia and that lady had 
swooned, and Nannie was so horrified that she 
screamed. 


I08 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

Then she woke up, and breathed a sigh of relief to 
find that it was only a dream, that the sun was stream- 
ing through the small windows, and the smell of the 
sea was good. Nannie ran to the door of the shanty, 
and looked across a stretch of water that had caught 
a glint of the sun’s gold, and was dazzling in its 
rippled splendor. Suddenly, her attention was called 
to Captain Tebbett’s cottage, where some one at the 
door stood waving a white cloth and making ges- 
tures to her. 

Nan hurried to the water’s edge, and waved her 
hand to Mrs. Tebbett, who called to her to come 
ashore. The girl lost no time, but hurried to the spot 
where the rowboat was moored, and in a few minutes 
was rowing across to the Captain’s landing. When 
half-way over, the boys emerged from the shanty, and 
started to follow her. 

“ Nannie Tenfield, how in the name o’ wonder did 
you ever git over to Sun Island this airly in the 
mornin’ ? ” asked Mrs. Tebbett, helping the girl out 
of the boat. 

I’ve been there all night,” returned Nan with a 
smile, shaking the hand of the old lady, whom she had 
not seen for over a year. 

Well, well, well,” said the Captain’s wife, ‘‘ an’ 


AN UNEXPECTED GUEST IO9 

you're growin’ a big girl ! Why, it seems only yister- 
day that you was a little mite of a thing, a-playin' 
down there in the sand in a pink sun-bonnet ; an' here's 
the boys." 

'‘Any news, mother?" asked Burge, as the two 
lads jumped ashore. 

" The Captain's had a telegram from some o' your 
folks. Jack, an' he's gone to the village." 

“ It must be from Aunt Cordelia," said Jack with a 
grin. " You'll catch it," he added, shaking a finger at 
Nan. 

" We'll go in now, an' have some breakfast," said 
Mrs. Tebbett, " the Captain will be along by and by." 

About two hours later he returned, in company with 
Aunt Cordelia, who looked very red and uncomfort- 
able from her drive through the village. She was 
ushered into the Captain's sitting room, where she 
asked to see Nannie alone. 

When they appeared some time later poor little 
Nannie looked very much crestfallen. She bade a 
sheepish good-bye to Burge and Jack, who had been 
waiting around on purpose to see what the outcome 
of the interview would be, then hurried away with 
her aunt. 

There was another surprise for Jack that day be- 


no JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 

sides Nan^s sudden appearance. Mr. Ford De Wolf 
moored his yacht at the Captain’s landing, and had 
lunch with the boys in the shanty. 

Jack had not seen him all summer, although the De 
Wolf cottage was open and Mr. Samuel came almost 
every week, and sometimes dropped in to see Captain 
Tebbett, who was a very old friend. 


CHAPTER XI 


A CHANGE OF PLANS 

Summer was on the wane. The hotel that had been 
a source of revenue to the boys was closed, and many 
of the summer residents had gone from the Point. 
The boys were still enjoying their camp life on Sun 
Island. They had plenty of time to sail every day, 
and during these pleasant hours Jack often pictured 
to himself a, cruise on the Suzanne with Burge. 

One day the beys were out in the Rocket, smelting, 
when they happened to see an unusual stir among the 
crew on the Suzanne. 

Burge, who had Captain Tebbett’s glass aboard, 
dropped his lines, and raised the glass to his eyes. 

Why, Jack ! ’’ he cried, take a look ; seems to me 
they are getting ready.’' He had scarcely said the 
words, when the well-known blast from his father’s 
old horn told the boys that they were wanted at 
once. 

They put up their fishing lines and headed for the 
shore, where they were met by Captain Tebbett, who 


111 


1 12 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

said with a smile, I guess you^ll have sailin’ in other 
waters ’fore a great while, Burge.” 

“Is the Suzanne going to start?-” asked the boy, 
jumping ashore. 

“ To-morrow morning at five o’clock,” was the an- 
swer. “ Captain Herford’s jest been in to say good- 
bye to Sarah.” 

“ But I thought he wasn’t going for a couple of 
weeks yet,” said Jack. “ He said so the other even- 
ing.” 

“ He got a telegram from the New York chap to 
sail at once,” said the old man. 

“ That alters my plans,” said Burge, turning to 
Jack. “ I "thought we might have some shooting to- 
gether, but now I’ve got to hurry and get my things 
together. I haven’t very much to take, but I’d better 
begin at once.” 

Jack agreed that Burge ought to have everything 
in readiness, and he started in at once to help Burge 
get his belongings together. 

“ It’s too bad you’re not coming. Jack,” said Burge, 
noting the fact that his friend had grown very quiet. 

“ Yes,” replied the boy, “ I’d like it above anything 
else, but I might as well put it out of my mind, at least 
for the present. I ought to take the opportunity of 


A CHANGE OF PLANS 1 13 

going to college, when it is offered. Never mind/' he 
added hopefully, “ we’ll have a good trip some time to- 
gether.” 

“ How much money is in the treasury. Jack? ” asked 
his partner suddenly. 

“ We’ve made almost twenty-four dollars this 
summer, counting in everything.” 

‘‘ Good enough,” cried Burge, “ twelve dollars will 
help out, only I wish it was more.” 

“ It is more,” said Jack quickly. “ I’ve thought this 
matter all out, Burge, and I’m going to lend you my 
fifty and my share of the summer’s profits, because 
you’ll need this money.” 

Burge shook his head. Why, I couldn’t think of 
taking it; you’ll need it yourself.” 

“Oh, no!” insisted Jack, and he proved to his 
friend that the latter would need the money, while a 
boy, having his expenses paid at school, would not. 

In the end Burge gratefully took the money as a 
loan, to Jack’s complete satisfaction. The boys had 
supper that night with Captain Tebbett, and spent 
their last evening sitting on the Captain’s door-step, 
talking over the great event that was about to take 
place in Burge’s quiet life. 

Starting away off to the Pacific Coast, and later 


1 14 JACK tenfield's star 

dredging for gold in Alaska, was a big undertaking 
for a lad of seventeen. 

We’ll be pretty lonesome without Burge,” said 
Mrs. Tebbett, joining the group, when her supper 
dishes had been washed and put away. Dear knows 
when we’ll see him again.” 

Well, now, Sarah, you’re well used to the men- 
folk goin’ off and stayin’ awhile, ain’t yer ? ” 

“ I’m mebbe used to it,” said Sarah, but it alius 
seems sudden and lonesome like, just the same.” 

I don’t believe I’ll be away a long time,” said 
Burge. Never mind, mother, I’ll come back and 
make you all rich,” he added laughingly. 

At nine o’clock that night Burge was rowed over 
to the Suzanne j while Jack stood on the shore, and 
watched its black hulk in the moonlight. 

At five o’clock the next morning she sailed out of 
the harbor with every sail set in a stiff breeze. Jack 
waved Mrs. Tebbett’s tablecloth, and blew on the old 
foghorn, as a parting salute. 

Later in the morning he sailed over to Sun Island, 
and prepared to spend his first day alone in the shanty. 

The smelting season had now begun, and just before 
noon he went fishing. His catch included about four 
dozen of the small fishes, with a few flounders, and a 


A CHANGE OF PLANS 


II5 

couple of eels. He brought them all home to Mrs. 
Tebbett, and had quite a fish dinner with the 
Captain. 

A few days later he received a telegram from his 
Aunt Cordelia to go, as soon as possible, to her house 
in the city. “ So they have returned from Newport,” 
said Jack to himself when he read it, and made prepa- 
ration to leave Horn Point. 

When Jack reached Boston, he hurried to his aunt’s 
house, a large brown-stone mansion in one of the 
oldest and most aristocratic streets of the city. As our 
hero mounted the steps and rang the bell of his new 
home, for such he thought it was going to be, he could 
not help thinking how different it seemed, with its tiny 
grass plot and the black iron fence, from the old yellow 
mansion among the fields and trees. 

The great hall was dark and gloomy-looking. The 
room that Jack was shown into by a tired-looking 
maid had an air of loneliness, in spite of its rich 
hangings. The boy sat on one of the grand chairs, 
and for the first time in his life felt out of place. He 
thought of poor little Nannie, who loved freedom and 
sunshine, shut up in these gloomy rooms. 

Suddenly the door opened, and the object of his 
thoughts stepped into the room. “ When did you get 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


I l6 

here? asked Nan, making herself as small as possible 
on a large divan. 

“ About five minutes ago. Aunt Cordelia sent for 
me — is she at home? ” said Jack all in one breath. 

“ No, she’s shopping with Isabelle. They’re shop- 
ping all the time. Isabelle’s going to be married next 
month.” 

So soon ! ” cried Jack. “ I thought it would not 
be for some time yet. What do you suppose Aunt Cor- 
delia wants to see me about? ” 

‘‘ I haven’t the least idea,” said Nan. “ She never 
talks to me about things. I’m going to be sent to a 
boarding school ; I know that much, because Mrs. Mc- 
Naughton told me. At first I thought I wouldn’t like 
it at all, but now I’m glad I’m going away from this 
gloomy old house. It’s stifling. Oh, Jack ! ” con- 
tinued Nan, slipping down from her seat and going 
nearer, Auntie is terribly stingy, and she’s getting 
worse all the time. Do you know,” whispered Nan, 
looking cautiously toward the door, to be sure no one 
heard, “ we’ve had nothing but oatmeal porridge for 
breakfast and supper the whole week, and she’s 
stopped buying butter ? ” 

Jack grinned. “ I thought you were looking rather 
thin.” 


A CHANGE OF PLANS II/ 

Thin ! I feel like a little black ant in this house. 
I feel so subdued all the time that when I get out on 
the street I have a wild desire to yell at the top of my 
voice — just to get rid of a subduedness that is smother- 
ing me — that’s how I feel,” declared Nannie, waxing 
eloquent over her lot. 

I have the blues every day, too,” she added. 

“ You mustn’t feel so bad about it,” said Jack, add- 
ing with a smile Nan’s original lines to himself on a 
certain occasion: 

“ ‘ The bright side, the bright side, 

My sister, is always the right side.’ 

You must practice what you preach. Nan, and 
some time you and I will live together, and have a 
jolly time.” 

I’ve made up a poem about this house and you 
and me — read it,” said the budding poet, pressing a 
much-crumpled piece of paper into Jack’s hand. “ And 
oh. Jack, ‘ Wild Nature ’ was returned with thanks 
and ” 

There was a rustle of skirts outside the door. 
Nannie disappeared like a flash, while Jack thrust her 
‘‘poem,” unread, into his pocket, just as Aunt Cor- 
delia opened the door, followed by Isabelle. “ How 
do you do. Jack?” said his aunt, while Isabelle ex- 


Il8 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

tended three fingers, and then proceeded to take off 
her gloves. I would like to see Jack alone,’’ said 
Aunt Cordelia, turning to Isabelle. 

When they were alone Cordelia took off her bonnet, 
and sank into the nearest chair. “ Well, Jack, I hope 
you have had a pleasant summer. You are very much 
tanned, and I cannot say that it has improved you. If 
there is one thing that I dislike it is this black and 
tanned appearance that some city people take on in the 
summer. However, I did not bring you from Horn 
Point to talk about your looks; there are some very 
important matters that I wish to discuss.” 

After making this little speech, the lady turned, in 
a business-like manner, and said : ‘‘You thought of 
going back to school this fall, did you not ? ” 

“ Yes, ma’am.” 

“And entering college, later on, at my expense?” 
Jack felt his face burn. There was something in his 
aunt’s voice and manner that he resented, though he 
could not tell the reason. 

“ Now, Jack, it is with much regret that I must tell 
you that I shall not be able to send you to college. 
Your sister is about to be married, and as she was left 
absolutely penniless, owing to carelessness and lack 
of forethought on my brother’s part, I shall have to 


A CHANGE OF PLANS 


1 19 

Spend a great deal of money on her. She must have 
a wedding as becomes my niece, and I shall give her 
a trousseau suitable to the position she will occupy, as 
the wife of a wealthy and influential man.’’ 

Aunt Cordelia paused for several seconds, waiting 
for Jack to speak, but the boy remained silent. 

“ I am not sure that I approve of a college educa- 
tion for you, anyway,” she went on. Your father 
had all these advantages, and he was a miserable 
failure.” 

As the words fell from her lips. Jack’s face 
flushed hotly, and he looked his aunt squarely in the 
face. 

I don’t think my father was a miserable failure. 
Aunt Cordelia,” flashed Jack with boyish indignation. 

He was the best man that I ever knew, and I hope 
I may be just like him.” 

Not a failure ? ” said the woman in a questioning 
tone. “ Why, you know very well that he died in 
poverty — he did not have a cent.” 

He did good to everybody, and everybody loved 
and respected him. Money isn’t everything, and I 
didn’t come to hear my father’s memory insulted,” 
cried Jack, rising and growing more indignant every 
minute. 


120 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


Jack, you forget yourself — you forget who I am/' 
said Cordelia with great dignity. 

‘‘ No, Aunt Cordelia, I am not forgetting who you 
are. My father left you the guardian of his children, 
thinking that you, being a very rich woman, with no 
ties, would do for us as he would if the circumstances 
were reversed, but my father was mistaken.” 

Sir ! you are impudent to me, who intended to 
benefit you; but now, not a cent, not one penny of my 
money shall be wasted on such a boy.” 

‘‘ I don’t want it. I can work,” cried Jack, and 
without another word he left the house. 



“I don’t want it. I CAN WORK,” CRIED JACK. — Page 120 






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CHAPTER XII 


OLD FRIENDS 

There was a lump in Jack’s throat as he ran down 
his aunt’s steps, and it was an effort to keep back the 
mortifying tears. It was not that he had quarreled 
with his aunt, or that he had lost the means to obtain 
a college education, that caused the pangs of bitter 
disappointment. What hurt the most was the fact 
that if he had only known of his aunt’s intentions a 
week earlier he might have gone away with Burge 
on his trip to the Pacific. 

He had taken it as a matter of course that he was 
to go to college, and he blamed himself for so doing. 
Visions of the good times he might have had on the 
Suzanne, with the companionship of Burge, arose 
before him as he walked rapidly on, not caring 
whither, till at last he could bear it no longer, and he 
threw himself on a seat in the Common and gave 
himself up to his own bitter thoughts, the tears very 
near his eyes. 

After a while he grew calmer, and he suddenly 


121 


122 JACK TENFIELD’^S STAR 

asked himself what he was going to do. It was too 
late to start for Horn Point, and he would never go 
back to his aunt. He began to wonder where he 
could spend the night. He arose and sauntered slowly 
up the street, with hands thrust deep in his pockets, 
gazing in an absent sort of way into the shop win- 
dows. All at once his eye was fascinated by a face 
that wore a very broad smile, showing a set of white 
teeth. 

Jack stood on the street, and there in the window 
of a great florist’s shop was Terry, wiping the glass 
and winking hard at him. Jack’s sober face broke into 
a smile, and Terry left his place in the window and 
appeared at the door. 

“ Well, dis is what I call a chrysanthemum — a big 
thing,” said Terry, shaking Jack’s hand, the white teeth 
still very much in evidence. “ How’s all your folks ? ” 

“ They are all well, thank you,” said Jack, and 
added, ‘‘ I thought you were working for Mr. De 
Wolf; I did not know you were here.” 

I’m not dead sure of it meself, sometimes,” re- 
turned Terry, so I raise me right and kick me left ” 
— suiting the action to the word — “ to see if it’s de real 
thing. Mr. Ford De Wolf got me dis job. Yer see, first 
he gave me a place in his big warehouse filled with 


OLD FRIENDS 


123 


wool. Well, I guess he found out dat dere was more 
wool in me head dan dere was in de shop. Now, Mr. 
De Wolf, every day he came into his place, he used 
to wear a big pink in his button-hole — a fresh one 
every day. He used to throw away de old one in de 
w^aste basket, an’ I used to get it, and wear it, and 
by and by put it in an old can 0’ water. Well, pinks 
keep a long time, an’ one day I had de old tomato can 
chuck full o’ beauties, an’ he sees it, an’ asked me 
about it, an’ asked me if I liked those blooms, and den 
he talked about flowers an’ about de wool business, 
an’ two days after he got me dis job — ^an’ dey think 
he’s just de stuff here. Oh, it’s easy; five per, an’ a 
dreamy bed.” 

‘^Why! do you sleep here?” asked Jack, with 
sudden interest. 

Sure! Got a dandy room downstairs; got every- 
t’ing but a valet — dey couldn’t find one to suit me, so 
dey ” 

Say, Terry,” Jack broke in, do you suppose I 
could sleep here to-night?” 

Terry looked serious for the first time, noting Jack’s 
earnest face. D’you mean it ? ” 

Yes, I mean it,” said Jack, and just at that instant 
Terry was called by some one.” 


124 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


“ Hang around here to-night, an’ I’ll fix it,” whis- 
pered Terry, going into the shop. 

Our hero walked about for another hour or more, 
and was very glad to find Terry awaiting him when 
he returned to the florist’s shop, where he spent a very 
comfortable night in Terry’s quarters. 

Jack arose very early to help Terry with his duties. 
The former bootblack was so delighted to know that 
he had shared his lodging with Jack, that he stood on 
his head from sheer good-feeling. 

I’m going out now fer a minute, but you stay 
right here till I come back,” said Terry, darting out 
of the way before Jack could say a word. He ap- 
peared a few minutes later with a covered tray, which 
he set down on a large box that served as a table, and, 
pointing to a stool with a knife, invited Jack, with 
many bows and gestures, to sit down to breakfast. 

“ Dis repast might be from Young’s, an’ den again 
it might not,” said Terry, uncovering the tray with 
a flourish. De surest way ter find out is ter pitch 
right in, an’ by dat time yer won’t care. Come on. 
Jack; coffee and rolls fer two — pie fer six.” 

Terry’s good humor was infectious, and Jack 
thoroughly enjoyed the situation. ‘‘ Do you eat pie 
for breakfast?” asked Jack, shaking with laughter at 


OLD FRIENDS 12$ 

the grotesque faces the boy was making in trying to 
cut it. 

‘‘ Breakfast, dinner, and supper,’^ replied Terry, 
swallowing a huge mouthful. “ Dere were days dat 
I was poor and ignorant of mince, apple, prune, and 
squash, but now, ladies and gentlemen,” said Terry, 
addressing an imaginary throng, “ behold de Jay 
Gould of pie-alley.” 

The feats that Terry performed with knife and fork 
were little short of marvelous, and had the former 
been anything but the dullest Jack would have looked 
for an accident. When Terry had cleared away every- 
thing to his satisfaction, and told Jack more about his 
good fortune, our hero took leave of the boy with 
many promises to come again. 

Jack, who had been making up his mind to return 
to Horn Point and talk over his plans with Captain 
Tebbett, took a car for the wharf, and was soon on 
the way to his friends. During the sail to the Point 
he thought of his change of plans and altered fortune. 
The disappointment of not going with Burge rose 
uppermost in his mind, and he wondered if by any 
possible means he could reach the Suzanne. 

When the ship reached San Francisco she would 
be in port for a few days, but when would she reach 


126 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


San Francisco, was the next question. A wild hope 
flashed into Jack’s mind for an instant, that he might 
be able to reach San Francisco, and head off the 
Suzanne. But, in order to do that, he would have to 
travel across the continent, and how could he do that 
with only a few cents in his pocket? Full of con- 
flicting emotions Jack arrived at the Point, and took 
the well-known road through the village to the Cap- 
tain’s cottage. 

Jack was doomed to another disappointment at the 
end of his journey. He found the little cottage all 
closed up, and learned from a neighbor that the Cap- 
tain and his wife had gone on a short visit to a rela- 
tive in another town. There was nothing for Jack 
to do, but start back to the city, and during the sail 
he made up his mind to try to get work at once. 

A few hours later he walked slowly down Atlantic 
Avenue, watching the docks and the big ships with 
wistful eyes. He had gone but a short distance when 
he saw a group of men standing around a dog. Jack 
hurried his steps, and joined the group only to find his 
old friend Bolivar the center of an admiring circle. 

'‘Hello, Bolivar!” cried Jack, patting the dog’s 
head, who stood on his hind feet and tried to lick 
Jack’s face. 


OLD FRIENDS 


127 


Is it your dog, sonny?” asked a big ’longshore- 
man who had been trying to read the name on the 
dog’s collar. 

No, sir, but I know the owner. Here he is now,” 
said Jack, as his eye fell upon Mr. Ford De Wolf 
coming toward them. 

Well, Jack! found him again, did you? ” said Mr. 
Ford. '' He got out of the office about five minutes 
ago. I thought he couldn’t have gone far.” 

Bolivar’s master walked along with Jack, the dog 
following closely at their heels. I brought him in 
town to-day, because a friend of mine is going to keep 
him for a week, while I’m away at the races.” 

The races ? ” questioned Jack, looking up with 
interest. 

“ The boat races, you know, at Pullman, the na- 
tional regatta — ^you’ve seen them here in Boston, of 
course.” 

'' Oh, yes,” said Jack, I saw some races on the 
Charles a few years ago ; they were fine.” 

Would you like to come out there with me ? ” 
asked Mr. Ford suddenly, looking at Jack’s bright 
face. 

“ Yes, sir, very much,” answered the boy promptly, 
then, of a sudden, Jack remembered that he didn’t 


128 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


have a cent, “ but I don’t think I could go, thank you.” 
They had reached Mr. De Wolf’s office, and the man 
had noticed the boy’s manner. All at once he under- 
stood. 

“ Jack, you mustn’t refuse an invitation to see some 
fine races; you must come with me. Why, this is your 
vacation, isn’t it? I’ll send a line to your aunt, and — 
won’t hear a word,” he added, smiling, as Jack started 
to explain; “ it’s just what a boy like you will enjoy.” 

Jack could hardly believe his good fortune. He 
went into Mr. Ford’s private office, where he brushed 
his clothes, and made himself look as well as possible. 
Then he went to dinner with his friend, and a few 
minutes later was on his way to the train, which 
steamed out of Boston at three o’clock that afternoon 
for Chicago. 


CHAPTER XIII 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 

When the train was fairly on its way, Jack had 
quite a long talk with Mr. De Wolf about his future 
plans. He told his friend about Burge and the trip 
on the Suzanne, also of his own change of plans, with- 
out, however, mentioning any words or acts of his 
Aunt Cordelia. 

I suppose you would like to see Burge more than 
anything else in the world, just at present,” said the 
man with a smile. 

Jack smiled, too, as he answered, “ Yes, but that, 
of course, is impossible. I should have to go to San 
Francisco.” 

“Well, you are going to Chicago; that is a great 
deal nearer to him than Boston,” and with the words 
Mr.. Ford De Wolf smiled again, and changed the 
subject. 

Jack made the acquaintance of a lad about his own 
age, who was to be the coxswain of the crew, called 
129 


130 JACK tenfield's star 

“ Foxy by the young men who were going to take 
part in the races. 

Our hero was full of interest at the novel sight of 
a long, eight-oared shell in the forward car, laid on 
stretchers, supported by the arms of the car-seats, to 
be used in the great amateur race by the Orioles ” 
against the ‘‘ Atlantis,’' on Lake Calumet at Pullman. 
The young athletes in charge of the boat were always 
ready to answer Jack’s questions about racing, and 
shells, and rowing. 

Jack confided his admiration for them to Foxy,” 
and also told about the school crews he had watched 
from the banks of the Charles at home in Boston. 

The afternoon and evening were spent in this new- 
found company. Then, after a cordial good-night 
all around. Jack returned to the sleeper in the section 
he occupied with Mr. Ford De Wolf, where he slept 
soundly in spite of the unusual motion. In the morn- 
ing, it was quite a new experience for Jack to wash 
his face and hands while speeding along at the rate 
of forty miles an hour. 

While doing so he happened to glance out of the 
car window, as the train slowed up, and he saw a 
sight that filled him with wonder. Near the edge of 
a pine forest, about a quarter of a mile away, and 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA I3I 

fully seventy-five feet above his head, was a large 
ocean steamship. 

‘‘ What's that ? " cried the boy, hardly willing to 
believe the evidence of his senses. 

“ Guess you haven’t traveled much, my boy,” said 
an old man, smiling at Jack’s astonishment. 

“ No, sir, I haven’t,” was the answer. 

That,” said the old man, is a steamer, on the 
way from the Great Lakes to Europe, and is now in 
the great Welland Canal.” He explained at some 
length about them, and gave Jack a deal of informa- 
tion on the subject. 

Later in the morning while Jack was at breakfast, 
one of the train hands entered the dining car, and 
announced that the train was approaching Niagara 
Falls, and that it would stop at the station, Falls 
View,” for the passengers to see the Falls. 

Jack was one of the first to be out and across the 
track for a full view. As he looked across the chasm 
at the immense body of water, falling from a height 
of over one hundred and fifty feet, and sending up a 
spray or mist much higher than the falls themselves, 
he was filled with wonder. 

He suddenly felt a touch on his coat-sleeve and, 
turning, was greeted with the smiling face of Foxy,” 


132 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


who looked very jaunty in his white duck trousers, 
blue striped outing shirt, and schoolboy cap, perched 
on the back of his head. The roar of the falling 
water drowned the sound of their voices, and only 
now and then could they hear what each other said. 

The sight of the little steamer. The Maid of the 
Mist, that makes the trip to the foot of the Falls, and 
out into the mist, only to be swept sideways and back 
almost to the starting point, moved Foxy to say, I 
wouldn’t like to steer an eight in' that water, you never 
could keep her head up.” 

Jack’s experience in piloting the Rocket made him 
agree with Foxy that it would be impossible for a 
small boat to live in such angry waters. 

When the signal All aboard ” rang out, all 
went back to the cars. In a short time the train had 
resumed its journey, and the passengers settled them- 
selves for a long day’s ride. While Mr. De Wolf 
read from a thick red book that Jack noticed for the 
first time, our hero studied the book of Nature, as 
seen from a car window. About midday they came 
in sight of a river, and followed it for some length. 
As the train slowed up, Mr. Ford De Wolf told Jack 
that they were about to cross the Detroit River. The 
train moved more slowly and, after a great deal of 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 1 33 

backing and halting, everything seemed to grow sud- 
denly still. The train had stopped, but Jack was 
conscious of a swaying motion that he couldn’t ac- 
count for, and asked Mr. Ford about it. 

This genial sportsman had purposely kept Jack in 
ignorance of what was happening, in order to enjoy 
the better the surprise he had in store for the young 
traveler. He led Jack to the rear car, where through 
the open door our hero saw a large sheet of water 
churned into foam. To his surprised inquiry, Mr. 
Ford explained how the whole train, engine and cars, 
had been taken aboard an immense ferryboat, and 
transported across the river from Canada to the city 
of Detroit. 

You may be sure Jack was out of the car and on 
deck to see all he could from the restricted space on 
the boat. In a short time this novel water trip was 
over, and after much clanging of bells in the engine 
room of the ferryboat, it was safely moored in the slip, 
and when a section of railroad track on shore that 
worked on two immense hinges had been adjusted to 
fit the rails on the boat, the locomotive started with 
part of the train for the shore, and after going a short 
distance, backed and connected with the remaining 
part of the train. 


134 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


The journey on land was resumed, and Jack noticed 
as they sped along the names of the stations, which he 
recognized as names he had noticed in the papers he 
had sold. 

The boy busied himself looking at the country 
through which he was passing, noticing many new 
things about the houses and buildings on farms and 
in the towns. While going through a newly settled 
part of the State of Indiana he saw some animals 
running along the side of the track in the woods. 

“ What are those? cried Jack, turning to a sturdy- 
looking young man, who was also taking in the sight. 

^'Them’s hogs; ever see any before? '' was the un- 
grammatical answer. 

I never saw any like those before,’’ replied Jack, 
whose acquaintance with porkers ” was limited to 
the great, fat, white occupants of the pens on Hitch- 
cock’s farm. He did not readily recognize the species 
in these long-legged, narrow-bodied, black animals, 
that easily kept pace with the train, which had slowed 
a little in going over a new section of track. 

The young farmer told Jack that the black hogs 
were allowed to roam through the woods, feeding 
mostly on nuts and roots, and on such food as nature 
supplied. At certain times of the season they were 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 135 

gathered in droves, driven to the railroad, and shipped 
to the immense pork-packing houses in Chicago. 

That nice lean bacon that you eat for breakfast,'' 
added the young man, '' comes from these same woods 
or ‘ hog-runs.' " 

Towards evening the train approached the city of 
Chicago, and very soon arrived in the large station 
of the road. Mr. Ford had been invited by the oars- 
men to travel in their private car to Pullman and, as 
he did not care to stay over night in Chicago, he grate- 
fully accepted their offer. 

In a short time they arrived in the small, model 
city, where the houses are all alike. When they 
reached the pretty little hotel, where they had intended 
to stay, Mr. Ford was very much surprised to learn 
that there was not a room vacant in the house, but 
was told he could have a section in the sleeping-car 
on the private track of the car-building company at 
the foot of the hotel lawn. 

A colored porter, carrying a railroad lantern, con- 
ducted them to their quarters, and Mr. De Wolf, who 
had traveled much, admitted to Jack that it was the 
most novel hotel he had ever put up " at. The cars 
were stationary, so that there was no unpleasant 
motion to disturb their repose, and, with the doors 


136 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


and windows open wide to admit the cool breezes 
from the lake, everybody was made comfortable. 

In the morning they had breakfast at the hotel, and 
immediately repaired to the boat-house on the shore 
of the lake. Jack enjoyed the sight of the oarsmen, 
in their shells, practicing for the contests that were to 
take place in a few days. 

In a short time Foxy appeared, and took Jack under 
his care. He explained how the outriggers were at- 
tached to the eight-oared shell and the boat made 
ready for rowing. He also explained the system and 
discipline imposed upon the members of the crew, in 
order that they might do justice to themselves in the 
race, and win glory for their club; in other words, 

system and “ discipline ’’ were necessary to get the 
best results; which is true of a great many under- 
takings, as well as a rowing contest. Jack was much 
impressed by all that Foxy told him, and decided 
that it was not quite as easy and pleasant as he 
supposed. 

He told Mr. De Wolf what he thought about it at 
dinner, and the man replied that anything worth get- 
ting in life was accomplished only by hard work. 
He also took this occasion to speak upon his favorite 
pastime, that of rowing, telling Jack that it was one 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 137 

of the finest exercises in the world for building up 
the body. 

The next evening Jack attended the yearly meeting 
of the rowing association, where he listened to de- 
bates and arguments by the officers, who were all fine- 
looking men, who in past years had been oarsmen, 
and rowed in just such races as they were conducting 
at Pullman, and were now speaking in the interest 
of a younger generation. 

At last the morning dawned that was to usher in the 
day of the great regatta. People came from all the 
country around Pullman to witness the contest. Sev- 
eral “ fakirs ” and catch-penny shows arrived that 
were novelties to Jack. 

The first day’s races were rowed, and during the 
excitement Jack was not slow to proclaim himself for 
a crew or sculler that had taken his fancy. At dinner 
that evening the first day’s races were the one subject 
of conversation. Later in the evening our hero at- 
tended the convention, where Mr. Ford De Wolf had 
been invited to speak. He complimented the young 
oarsmen for their good work and self-denial in train- 
ing, and remarked that he was pleased to see them 
helping to make the pastime of rowing one for a gen- 
tleman to indulge in. 


138 


JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 


The following day was spent much like the previous 
one. There was, however, a little incident that amused 
the boy very much. 

He had been attracted to a tent in front of which 
a man with a round, wrinkled face was standing, 
about to tell the people the merits of his show, but 
Jack was pained to hear the man talk in hoarse whis- 
pers. He made many gestures, and every effort to 
be heard, but most of the people gave him but an 
indifferent glance and turned away. All at once Foxy 
and his crew came along, and they too stopped for a 
minute to hear the man’s story, but it was almost 
impossible, and every time the sick showman opened 
his mouth, any one could see that it cost a painful 
effort. 

Suddenly Jack saw Captain John McClintock of 
the Orioles make his way toward the showman 
and enter into a whispered conversation with him. 
In a few minutes it was evident that something was 
going to happen. The man descended from a small 
stand in front of the tent, from which he had tried 
and failed to attract patrons, and the big captain 
mounted in his place. 

He beckoned to his companions, and the whole crew 
moved up, when Captain John told them in a few 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 1 39 

words he was going to ‘"run” the show, and help 
the sick man out. 

A hand-organ was brought from the tent, and Cap- 
tain John began to beat a big bass drum, while one 
of his companions played on the hand-organ. 

In a short time a large crowd gathered, whereupon 
the big captain put aside his drum, the hand-organ 
became silent, and Captain John McClintock, the 
finest-looking and most popular member of the crew, 
addressed the public. 

Hear, hear, hear,” began the deep-chested cap- 
tain, “ listen to what I am about to tell you. In yonder 
tent, my good people, is the rarest, the most wonder- 
ful, the most marvelous freak of nature. Nothing in 
this world is quite like it, and if I were to tell you, 
ladies and gentlemen, what Professor Markin has 
done to secure this wonderful attraction for this 

day ” Here the captain paused, while the crowd 

increased in numbers, and other oarsmen appeared, 
urging him to speak louder, and give a more lengthy 
preface to his attraction. Ladies and gentlemen,” 
continued the big captain, thousands of dollars have 
been spent, lives almost sacrificed, and for what, ladies 
and gentlemen? — ^to bring here to this model city of 
Pullman — a cow with a double udder.” 


140 JACK tenfield's star 

A roar of laughter greeted this announcement, 
while the captain continued to expatiate on several 
minor attractions. The people began to respond by 
buying tickets at ten cents apiece, and in a very short 
time the tent was filled to its utmost capacity. Cap- 
tain John McClintock stepped down from his stand, 
but before he could hurry away with his crew the 
sick showman thanked him with tears in his eyes for 
the helping hand he had given. 

Tve a wife and children, young man,” Jack heard 
him whisper, “ and they’ll bless you for this day’s 
work. Luck has been against me, but, thanks to you. 
I’ll be all right for a while.” 

There had been a twofold motive in the action of 
the captain. It was true that he had felt pity for the 
unfortunate man, who was hardly able to speak, but 
there had also flashed into his mind the thought that 
his action would take his men’s thoughts away from 
the coming contest, and thus relieve the strain and 
tension that precedes a big race, and often retards the 
best efforts of the contestants. Everybody seemed 
to think that the coming race would be a hard-fought 
one, and Captain McClintock knew that his crew were 
nervous, in spite of a calm exterior. 

Jack had been thoroughly interested in the races 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA I4I 

that afternoon, but it was the last one and the finest of 
the regatta that claimed his closest attention. The 
boy was in the boathouse, watching every movement 
of the crews getting ready for the big race. 

When the moment arrived the voice of Captain 
McClintock rang through the boathouse. “ To your 
places ! Ready ! ” Instantly each man grasped his 
outrigger with one hand and the seat in the boat 
with the other, lifted it from its resting place, walked 
to the edge of the float, and placed it gently in the 
water. Then, without any confusion, each man took 
his oar, placed it in the rowlock, and at another word 
of command, stepped into his place in the shell and 
was seated. 

Foxy, the coxswain of the Orioles, was the last to 
get in. He placed the tiller ropes over his head and 
in front of him, so that he could pull on the lines with 
both hands and his body as well. He adjusted his 
megaphone by means of an elastic band around his 
head, and gave orders to shove off. 

At his word the whole crew bent to their oars and 
worked like a piece of machinery. Jack had been so 
absorbed in the doings of the oarsmen and admira- 
tion of Foxy that he did not notice Mr. Ford stand- 
ing beside him. 


142 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


Pretty good crew, that,’’ remarked the man, and 
then informed Jack that he had been invited to follow 
the races from the official steam launch. Jack fol- 
lowed his friend aboard, and the launch was soon 
heading for the starting line of the race, a mile and 
a half up the lake. 

When the crews of the Orioles ’’ and Atlantis ” 
were on the line, listening to instructions from the 
official starter. Jack secured a place on top of the 
awning over the steersman of the launch. Here, 
secure from observation, the boy had a fine view of 
the contest. 

All at once the starter cried, Are you ready?” 
immediately followed by the crack of a pistol, which 
was the signal to start. 

The sixteen men bent their bodies as one man, their 
oars gliding through the water, their boats forging 
ahead under the firm, even strokes from the hardy 
oarsmen. 

It was an effort for Jack to remain quiet. He 
wanted to shout encouragement to Foxy, as the boats 
sped down the course. First one crew was ahead, 
then the other, the men straining every muscle as they 
moved on their sliding seats and gripped the water 
with the blades of their oars. 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA I43 

Very soon it looked as if both boats were tied to- 
gether by some invisible means. The men rowed as 
hard as they could, but neither boat could gain the 
slightest advantage over the other. Every man in 
perfect form, the movements of their bodies as regu- 
lar as a well-adjusted piece of machinery, they sped 
onward, leaving a trail of foam in the blue waters of 
the lake. 

It seemed hours to Jack that he had been watching 
this fascinating scene, hoping that one of the boats 
would get ahead of the other, but they kept right on 
with the same even stroke, the same well-regulated 
movement of the body and oars. The sun’s rays 
shone on their bronzed arms, moist with perspiration, 
making them look like burnished metal, and in the 
distance one could almost imagine he was witness- 
ing a wonderful piece of mechanism. 

All at once a sound came over the water. It was 
Foxy crying, ** Now ! now ! now ! make it a dozen.” 
The crew responded, keeping time of the stroke to 
Foxy’s voice. The extra effort sent them a trifle 
ahead, but almost immediately the other crew made 
a similar effort, and once more the boats were even. 
For over a mile and a quarter these positions of 
the crews were maintained, while the impatient 


144 jack tenfield's star 

crowds on the banks cheered and urged them on- 
ward. 

They were now entering upon the last quarter of 
the course. Jack heard some of the officers on the 
launch declare that it would be an even finish or a 
dead heat.’^ 

Both the young coxswains were encouraging their 
respective crews to greater effort, but it was still 
'' anybody’s race ” ; the bows of the boats see-sawing, 
as one crew dug their oars while the other was reach- 
ing for the next stroke. 

Jack was growing nervous, inwardly wishing he 
could give Foxy one good push from behind, to send 
his boat ahead, if only for a foot, and break the spell 
that seemed to hold the boats together. 

While he was thinking of it, he suddenly saw Foxy’s 
right arm shoot out in front higher than his head. 
The Orioles saw the motion, and, with one mighty 
effort, every man seemed to straighten out, heads and 
shoulders were thrown back, and when the oars 
struck the water on the next stroke, it seemed to lift 
the boat out of it and send her fully six feet ahead of 
the Atlantis, Foxy calling in tones measured to the 
stroke, “ one, two, three, four, five, six,” and his crew 
stopped as a man. There was a boom from a big 


A JOURNEY AND A REGATTA 145 

gun, a flag dropped on the shore, and a mighty shout 
from the crowd as the Orioles crossed the line win- 
ners by a scant five feet! 

When the defeated crew rowed over to the Orioles 
to congratulate them upon winning, and, in return, re- 
ceive compliments for the plucky race they had rowed, 
the crowds cheered again and again, the crews cheered 
each other, and the great regatta was finished. 


CHAPTER XIV 


JACK HAS A SURPRISE 

The last night of the great regatta, while Jack 
was enjoying the sleep of healthy boyhood, his friend 
and admirer, Mr. Ford De Wolf, was planning in his 
own mind a surprise for our hero. 

He was a good deal of a boy himself, was Mr. Ford, 
and that is the reason he understood boy-nature. He 
had enjoyed Jack’s enthusiasm on the trip and during 
the races very much, and had listened with interest to 
the lad’s praises of Burge, sympathizing withjack’s dis- 
appointment in Burge’s departure on a long voyage. 

As the man sat on the hotel veranda thinking of 
Jack, he suddenly recalled the wistful expression on 
the boy’s bright face when the subject of starting for 
home had been mentioned. 

“ Poor little chap,” mused Mr. Ford ; “ he’s in 
Chicago, and that is so much nearer San Francisco 
than is Boston, that he is loath to leave it. I suppose 
he would be the happiest lad in Christendom if he 
could go there.” 


146 


JACK HAS A SURPRISE 


147 


Mr. De Wolf watched the still waters of the lake, 
and recalled many happy excursions of his own boy- 
hood. 

What a happy boyhood it had been, and how dear 
to him now were all those who had contributed to 
make it so! 

‘‘Why shouldn’t Jack go to San Francisco?” 
thought the man suddenly. 

“ He’s a boy in a thousand, honest, reliable, and 
manly; the journey will do him a world of good. 
Here am I, a rich man, and he is the son of a dear 
friend. I can make one boy happy, and I’ll do it. It 
is too bad that I cannot go myself, but Morley is 
there, and he is just the one to look after the boy, and 
show him about. I’ll extend this little pleasant trip a 
few weeks, and then my friend Jack can return to 
Boston ready for work.” 

So saying in his mind, the man arose and entered 
the hotel to write a letter to an old friend in San 
Francisco. 

The next morning, after breakfast, while Jack was 
having a final view of the boathouse at Pullman, Mr. 
De Wolf approached, with his usual happy smile. 

“ Well, Jack, since you are just burning to see that 
sailor, Burge, I’ll tell you a something that occurred to 


148 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


me last night. Fm thinking seriously of sending you 
to San Francisco with a letter to deliver to a friend. 
How would you like to do it ? ’' 

Jack Tenfield’s face showed the delight he felt at 
this unexpected proposal. 

“ Fd like it, thank you, sir,” cried the lad earnestly. 
“ I know that I could find my way anywhere.” 

“ Well, Fll see about the trains, and be back 
shortly,” said Mr. Ford, turning to go. 

Jack wanted to stand on his head from sheer joy 
at the thought of what was before him. Going to San 
Francisco. A meeting with Burge, and, after that, 
who could tell what might happen? Oh, the joyous 
anticipation of it! 

In the midst of these thoughts Mr. De Wolf ap- 
peared, and handed Jack a sealed letter. 

He was just on the point of telling the boy some- 
thing when a negro porter appeared, saying: 

“ The express to San Francisco leaves in ten 
minutes, sir,” 

“ So soon ! ” exclaimed Mr. Ford. I thought 
we would have a good hour yet.- Hurry, Jack; you 
haven’t any luggage to bother about, but we’ll start 
at once.” 

When our hero was seated in the train, Mr. Ford 


JACK HAS A SURPRISE 


149 


had hardly time to give him his ticket, and slip some- 
thing into his pocket, when the train began to move. 

There was a hurried good-bye, and the next moment 
Jack was rushing toward the Pacific at express speed. 

He sat looking out of the window, going over the 
recent events at the races in his mind. His thoughts 
dwelt on Mr. Ford’s generosity, and Jack hoped to be 
able to do something, sometime, to show how much he 
appreciated all that his friend had done. 

He was glad to think that he was carrying a letter 
of importance for Mr. Ford, not realizing that it was 
merely a letter of introduction to a friend, whom Mr. 
Ford knew would look out for the lad in a strange 
city. 

Jack put his hand in his pocket to look at the ad- 
dress on the letter, which had hitherto escaped his 
notice, but, instead of the letter he pulled out a small 
roll of bills. 

His eyes opened very wide when he saw it, and 
knew that that was the thing that Mr. Ford had 
slipped into his pocket just as the train was ready to 
start. 

What a splendid time he would have, and when he 
met Burge they could do ever so many things to- 
gether. 


150 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


This Started a new train of thought in Jack’s mind, 
and he forgot all about the letter in his pocket, while 
mile after mile of pleasant country was passed, and 
away over the hills Jack could see the red sun sinking 
lower and lower, until there was only a glow in the 
sky, and at last darkness. 

He was still in a reverie when some one touched his 
arm, and said something about supper. 

When Jack sought his ‘‘sleeper” that night he did 
not realize how tired he was until his head touched the 
pillow, and he was soon sleeping soundly. 

The night passed without incident, and the next 
three days were full of interest for a bright boy who 
was having his first realization of the wide extent of 
our country. 

The last night, however, was very different. The 
boy did not know how long he had been alseep, 
when he felt a sudden shock, and awoke to find himself 
on the floor of the car, while all around him was bustle 
and confusion. 

His fellow-travelers were sprawled about, every one 
talking at onc^, and no one able to tell just what the 
matter was; but the car had turned over on its side, 
and the people began to crawl through the windows 
to safety. 


JACK HAS A SURPRISE 


51 


Jack lost no time in getting outside, where it was 
discovered that the train had run into a freight car, 
which had struck it on the side. 

Fortunately no one was hurt, but in a few minutes 
the passengers learned that they had not left the train 
a minute too soon. It was suddenly discovered that 
the car was in flames, and the terror-stricken people 
thanked God that they had escaped a terrible fate. 

Jack found himself in what seemed to him a de- 
serted stretch of country, with groups of people stand- 
ing around, asking questions and wondering where 
they had stopped. 

Do you know what time it is, sonny?’’ asked a 
voice at his elbow, and Jack turned to a short, stout 
man, hatless and shoeless. 

Jack started to put his hand in his coat pocket, when 
he suddenly recalled the fact that his coat was hang- 
ing near his berth in the burning car. 

The boy turned pale as it flashed upon him that 
the roll of bills and Mr. Ford’s letter were there also. 

Somebody said it was almost four o’clock. Once or 
twice he got a gentle push to move out of the way; 
but he stood dumfounded as the truth flashed upon 
him. 

The letter, the address of which he had never no- 


152 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


ticed, was burned, and the loss began to assume a very 
serious aspect. He dug his hands into his trousers’ 
pocket, hoping that he might be mistaken, and find 
the letter there, but there was only a crumpled sheet 
of paper, which had lain in his pocket since the day 
Nannie had passed it to him in his aunt’s house on 
Mount Vernon Street. 

Jack started to walk about the wrecked cars, keep- 
ing his eyes on a faint streak of light in the eastern 
sky. 

In the meantime messages had been sent over the 
wires, and the people were hopeful of getting another 
train before a great while. 

Jack gave a helping hand whenever he could, and 
when the sun rose with the promise of a beautiful day, 
the straggling groups of people brightened per- 
ceptibly, and looked over the wreck with renewed in- 
terest, now that daylight made everything visible. 

For the next few hours everybody worked, and at 
last the tracks were cleared, and the longed-for train 
steamed into view. They were only seven miles from 
San Francisco. As the train sped onward to its des- 
tination, Jack faced a problem that he had not dreamt 
of a few hours earlier. What was he going to do 
when he reached the city ? That was the one question 


JACK HAS A SURPRISE 153 

that filled his thoughts to the exclusion of every 
other. 

To arrive in a strange city without a cent, not even 
knowing the name or address of the person he was 
supposed to visit, was a very different prospect from 
what he had pictured. He bitterly regretted his care- 
lessness in not having read the address on the letter, 
and thought with sorrow of the roll of bills that had 
been burned, and which might have been saved if he 
had only placed them in his trousers pocket. 

His watch, too, a gift from his father, was gone, 
and altogether it was a very sad loss for Jack Ten- 
field. 

He was still musing on his unfortunate plight when 
his journey ended', where, in the midst of hurry and 
bustle, the boy stepped from the ferry-boat — a stranger 
in a strange city. 


CHAPTER XV 


AT WORK 

Jack walked briskly, not knowing in the least 
where he was going, and thinking rapidly all the while 
of his future plans. 

His first thought was to send a telegram to Mr. 
Ford De Wolf, and acquaint him with his loss; but 
it suddenly occurred to his mind that the man was not 
in Boston, and would not be there for a whole month. 

He had told Jack that he was going on a hunting 
trip, with some friends, who had a camp in the wilds 
of Canada. 

At a corner of a street. Jack stood for a minute and 
searched his pockets, where he was lucky enough to 
find a dime and a nickel. 

The nickel was soon invested in a large yellow 
banana, which Jack knew would have to be his break- 
fast, dinner, and supper for that day. His next 
thought was to visit the water front and find out all 
the news he could about the Suzanne, 


154 


AT WORK 


155 


He inquired of a policeman the direction to take, 
and was soon on his way to the wharves. When he 
finally reached them, he was doomed to disappoint- 
ment, as there was not the slightest clew to the where- 
abouts of the Suzanne. 

Jack Tenfield sat on the steps of a large warehouse 
on the water’s edge, and wondered what he ought to 
do next. 

In spite of the change of fortune, the loss of money 
and letter, there was a certain feeling of triumph to 
be there in San Francisco, where sooner or later the 
Suzanne would come into port, and with her Burge 
Tebbett. 

“ I’m here, and I’m going to stay here,” said the 
boy, suddenly making up his mind to look for work. 
Then he remembered that he had no coat, but that 
would not matter for a time in hot weather. I’ll stay 
until I see Burge.” With this thought uppermost in 
his mind he arose and walked rapidly away from the 
water front. 

He watched the large buildings and stores that he 
passed, with eager eyes, debating in his mind the sub- 
ject of going into some of them and asking for em- 
ployment. 

Suddenly he came to a small park, where a few 


156 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


people were loitering, and his eye fell upon a news- 
paper on an empty bench. 

Jack hurried to the seat, picked up the paper, dated 
that morning, and began to read the “ want advertise- 
ments.” 

He selected three from among the Male Help 
Wanted,” and started in at once to locate the places. 

The first advertisement was a position for an errand 
boy in a broker’s office, but, after much walking. Jack 
found the place already filled, and in the second he had 
no better success. 

He was feeling tired and hungry, when he took up 
the paper and read once more the third advertisement 
for a boy. 

“ Wanted — A bright, honest boy for general office 
work. Wages, three dollars, with chance of promo- 
tion. The Pitman & Barnes Mfg. Co.” 

After walking about a mile. Jack found himself 
before a large building filled with mowing machines, 
and all other kinds of agricultural implements. 

He entered and was shown into a private office, 
where he found two boys ahead of him, waiting for 
an interview with the manager. Our hero had no 
sooner taken his place among them than the door of a 
private office was opened by a large swarthy man, with 


AT WORK 


157 


keen black eyes, who took a quick survey of the lads, 
and without a word seated himself at a roll-top desk. 

He brought out three slips of paper and three pen- 
cils, which he distributed among the three aspirants 
for the position. 

“ Boys,” said the man, eyeing each lad in turn, ‘‘ I 
want you to add the short column of figures that you 
will find on the slip of paper. When you have done so, 
write your name and bring the paper to me. You may 
begin at once.” 

Jack never raised his eyes till his column was added 
up and down twice over, his name written as well as 
he could possibly write it, and he was standing at the 
man’s desk. 

“ Is it right? ” asked the manager in a low voice. 

‘‘ Yes, sir,” said Jack simply. 

The man waved him to his seat, and began to talk 
in subdued Jones to the next boy. He also was mo- 
tioned to a seat, and the third boy questioned. 

In a short time the man arose and, addressing Jack, 
said: ‘‘You may go into the front office and report 
to Mr. Goodspeed. He will put you to work at once.” 

“ Thank you,” said Jack, starting to obey, while the 
other two lads left the office with a grin. 

Jack was conducted to a desk, where he was soon 


158 


JACK TENFIELD'^S STAR 


busily employed indexing a large invoice book. Sev- 
eral other tasks were assigned to him during the 
course of the day, all of which he performed as well 
as he could. Doing one’s very best, at all times, was 
one of Jack’s mottoes. 

He was still working away when some one pushed 
his elbow, causing an awkward mark on an otherwise 
perfect page. 

Jack resented the movement, and turned quickly to 
see who had been the cause of it. 

He found a young man at his elbow, about eighteen 
or twenty years old, who scowled at him, and said: 
“ Say, git out er here. Are you goin’ ter work all 
night?” 

A quick retort was on Jack’s lips, but before he 
uttered it, another man appeared on the scene, and the 
surly youth turned on his heel and disappeared. 

Have you any objection to working a few hours 
this evening?” said the newcomer in a very pleasant 
voice to Jack, who promptly replied that he had 
not. 

“ This is our busy season,” said the man, and for 
a few weeks we find it necessary to stay evenings in 
order to keep up the work. Later on, in the dull sea- 
son, the time is made up in many ways ; ” and so saying 


AT WORK 159 

he passed Jack a half-dollar, telling him to go out and 
get his supper, returning in half an hour. 

The boy started at once, delighted at his good for- 
tune, and counting up in his mind all he could save if 
he worked every evening and got fifty cents for his 
supper. 

He went into a near-by restaurant, and bought a 
glass of milk and two large buttered rolls for ten 
cents. 

With forty cents in his pocket besides his dime, he 
hurried back to the office of the Pitman & Barnes Mfg. 
Co., and worked away at his desk till a sudden quiet 
caused him to raise his eyes, when he found himself 
alone. 

'Bout time to put the lights out, sonny," said the 
watchman, coming into the office. 

“ I didn’t notice that everybody had gone," said 
Jack with a smile. 

You’re a new one, aren’t you? " asked the man. 

“ Yes, sir," replied Jack, “ I only came to-day. 
What time do you open in the morning? ’’ 

“ Well, this is our busy time, you know," said the 
man, and it is just a rush and bustle all the time. 
We open pretty early now. Seven sure, and some of 
’em get around here at half-past six." 


l6o JACK tenfield's star 

“ That is early/’ remarked the boy. 

Yes,” said the other, “ but we pay up for it a little 
later; you won’t have to be here till eight and after.” 

“ I suppose you sleep here,” said Jack, making up 
his mind to stay all night if he could. 

The man nodded, whereupon Jack asked him if he 
could sleep there for that night. 

“Sleep here!” exclaimed the watchman, “haven’t 
you got a home ? ” 

Jack told the watchman a part of his experiences 
since the accident to the train, and offered to do the 
sweeping and chores in the morning if he might be 
allowed to stay. 

“ That’s a queer yarn you’re telling me,” said the 
man, “ but you look honest, and I’ll let you do it for 
this once.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


CONCERNS NANNIE 

We will leave Jack Tenfield for a very short time, 
because just at this point in his career Nannie begins 
a new life. 

“ But this is a boy’s story,” you may say, there- 
fore what is the good of having a chapter on a girl ? ” 

There are a few reasons why I want to tell you 
a little about Jack’s sister. In the first place, there 
may be girls who would read this story, and want to 
know something about Nannie. In the second place, 
she certainly played a part in Jack’s career. He was 
very fond of his sister and, as you will see before the 
close of the book, proud of her as well. 

Isabelle Tenfield was married in early October, and 
started at once for England, which was to be her 
future home. 

Two days after Isabelle’s departure Nannie was 
on her way to the Misses Fitts’ select school for girls, 
in a neighboring suburb. 

There were conflicting emotions in Nannie’s heart, 

i6i 


JACK TENFIELD^’S STAR 


162 

as she looked out of the coach windows at the great, 
gray house with its numerous windows that was going 
to be her future home. In her hand was a sealed letter 
which Aunt Cordelia had written with the instruction 
that she was to give it to the lady principal imme- 
diately after her arrival. 

In answer to Nannie's timid ring, a clever-looking 
woman opened the door, and conducted her to a small 
parlor, where a thin, spectacled lady in black was 
writing at a table. 

“ You are Miss Annette Tenfield, I presume,” said 
the lady, rising and extending her hand to the 
girl. 

“ Yes, ma’am. If you are the lady principal, here 
is a letter from my aunt.” 

Miss Augusta Fitts smiled kindly over her spec- 
tacles as she took the letter; and Nan’s little heart 
grew lighter, and the great house did not seem so 
lonely; such is the power of a kindly smile. 

Nannie never knew what was in that letter, but 
she saw the smile fade from the woman’s face, which 
gradually assumed a very stern expression. 

In answer to a bell a young woman showed Nannie 
to her room, where she removed her things, and then 
went below to a great hall. Shortly after she entered. 


CONCERNS NANNIE 1 63 

a bell sounded, the doors opened, and a bevy of girls 
came bounding into the hall for recess. 

Nannie sat on a long settee near a window, watch- 
ing the chattering throng, when somebody touched 
her on the shoulder. Nannie turned, and met at her 
side a short girl about her own age, holding an im- 
mense pickle, half-hidden in a handkerchief, toward 
her. 

“ Take a bite,'' said the girl, exposing a little more 
of the delicacy. 

“ Thanks," said Nan rather shyly, “ I don't think 
I care for any, thank you." 

“ Don't you like pickles ? " asked the other in the 
most surprised tones imaginable. 

Yes, sometimes," stammered Nan, blushing furi- 
ously, as a group of girls a short distance away stood 
looking at her. 

Well, never mind," remarked the girl with the 
pickle. “ You don't get a chance at a pickle very 
often. This one was smuggled in to me. My name 
is Theresa Surrett, what's yours ? " 

‘‘ Nannie — I mean Annette Tenfield." 

“ Oh, never mind the Annette ; they all call me 
Tessie, and I'll call you Nannie, if you like." 

The girl continued to enjoy her pickle, plying Nan 


164 JACK TENFIELD'^S STAR 

with questions all the while. “ Can you make good 
fudge? Here’s a secret: there’s going to be a lark 
in my room some night next week, and I’ll invite you, 
but don’t breathe it to that red-headed girl at the 
piano, because she’ll tell. Her name is Marie Deshon. 
Are you hungry? ” 

‘‘ No, thanks,” replied Nannie, who could not shake 
off a certain diffidence, in spite of Tessie’s volubility. 

“Well, I am, and it’s ’most dinner time; horrid 
dinner on Monday — just soup and things warmed 
over from Sunday and old boiled rice that’s tasteless 
as sawdust, but Tuesday Oh-0-0! ” 

Tessie smacked her lips, and continued for the next 
five minutes to acquaint Nannie with the bill of fare 
for the whole week, both as regards quality and 
quantity. 

Nannie, who longed to ask her companion a great 
many questions about the school, the studies, and the 
games, suddenly asked a characteristic question, 
“ What do you do here besides eat ? ” 

“ Oh, a few things,” returned Tessie, and imme- 
diately chatted on about home-made candy, and an 
old woman who lived near the school and made “ per- 
fectly exquisite taffy,” and sold it to the girls. 

It was evident that Tessie had no interest in any- 


CONCERNS NANNIE 


65 


thing that did not appeal to her stomach, and Nannie 
sat quietly beside her, and listened till a gong sounded 
that ended the recess. 

In a few days Nannie felt quite at home in her new 
quarters, and liked it on the whole. It seemed so 
good not to have Aunt Cordelia nagging at her that 
she grew quite like the sunny, fun-loving Nannie of old. 

The “ subduedness,” though still present, was not 

smothering,” as she had described to Jack. The 
girl began to be more interested in her studies than 
in former days. At the end of a week Nannie had 
vowed eternal friendship for Tessie, and for several 
others, had learned how to make “ good fudge,” and 
taken the leading part in an escapade that almost cost 
her dismissal, and incidentally taught her a good 
lesson. 

One day a note was slipped into her hand in the 
classroom, which read as follows: 

“ When all the lights are out to-night, come to my 
room. Slip a piece of white paper under the door, so 
that we may be sure it is you. T. S.” 

Nannie went about the rest of the day full of sup- 
pressed excitement, knowing that the note meant the 
‘‘ lark ” that Tessie had hinted about for days. 


i66 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


That night when everybody was supposed to be 
in bed, Nan arose and groped her way noiselessly 
along a dark corridor till she came to Tessie’s door, 
when she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten 
the paper to slip under, which was to be the signal for 
her admittance. 

Nannie did not like the idea of going all the way 
back for a little piece of paper, at the same time she 
was afraid to make any noise. 

At last she gained courage enough to turn the door 
knob gently, hoping that Tessie would understand, 
but there was not the slightest sound from within. 
After waiting a second Nan gave a. gentle knock, then 
another and another, still there was no response. 

At last she tried a short cough, and looked around 
in the dark, fearful at the sound of her own voice. It 
was useless, however, as no sound could be heard in 
Tessie’s room, and the dark corridor was beginning to 
look grewsome to the shivering girl at the door. 

Disappointed, she started back for the paper. How 
terribly dark it was! Nan began to feel more fright- 
ened at every step. All at once she thought she saw 
something moving in front of her a few feet ahead. 
Nannie’s teeth chattered, and her steps faltered. 

At last she could not touch the wall that had been 


CONCERNS NANNIE 


167 


her guide. In her excitement she had lost her bear- 
ings. She looked behind, and it seemed as if the 
black thing was very near her. Nannie took another 
step and the next minute was lying on her face and 
hands at the end of a short flight of stairs. 

She screamed in affright, doors were opened, lights 
appeared, and surprised faces were before her in a 
very short time. Nannie was more frightened than 
hurt, although it was a very fortunate thing that she 
had fallen the short distance, instead of the long flight 
of stairs that was very near. 

The next day there was a private interview with Miss 
Aurora Fitts, which Nannie never forgot. She would 
not tell why she left her bed to wander in the dark 
corridor, for fear of implicating Tessie and the other 
girls. A tattle-tale was a most despicable thing in 
Nan’s eyes. Neither would she tell the slightest un- 
truth, and the result was that she refused an answer 
to some of Miss Aurora’s many questions. 

At first she was threatened with dismissal from the 
school, but this was afterwards changed to probation. 

Your aunt, Miss Tenfield, in her letter to my sister, 
warned us that you were a very troublesome, difficult 
girl. We had hoped that the discipline of our school 
would change that in a very short time, but we were 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


1 68 

mistaken, and I am afraid we will have to send you 
back to your aunt/’ 

This was too much for Nannie, who burst into a 
flood of tears, whereupon Miss Aurora relented and 
gave Nannie “ one more chance.” 

It is needless to say that Nannie was very grateful, 
and showed by her behavior that she was going to do 
her best. 

There was a very wholesome atmosphere about the 
school, and Nannie learned, among other things, that 
the Misses Fitts possessed under a stern exterior, very 
generous, tender natures ; that it would be hard, in- 
deed, to find two more lovable, refined women in the 
broad land. 

What the girl never could forget, however, was the 
statement of Tessie, when all the excitement was over. 
“ You poor thing,” whispered Tessie, ‘‘ I had changed 
my mind that night about the ‘ lark,’ and forgot to 
tell you.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


JACK LOSES HIS TEMPER AND SOMETHING ELSE 

We left Jack happy in the fact that he was working 
his way, earning and saving money, and looking for- 
ward to the arrival of the Suzanne, and Burge. 

In a short time he knew the routine of the work as 
perfectly as he knew a framed motto that hung over 
the door of the private office, and read in large let- 
ters : 

The best is none too good, and always the cheap- 
est.’’ 

Large shipments of goods were sold every “day by 
the Pitman & Barnes Mfg. Co., and with each pur- 
chase that left the premises an invoice was sent. As 
the invoice clerk was obliged to make them out very 
rapidly it was part of Jack’s work to look over every 
invoice to see if it was figured and addressed correctly, 
the manager being very particular that no mistake 
should occur. When Jack had gone through a batch 
of invoices, he placed them in a large book, whose 
pages were blank tissue paper, between wet blotters 

169 


1^0 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


and oiled sheets, then pressed by means of a small 
hand press, and a perfect impression made of every 
invoice that left the office. 

This work was all new and interesting to the boy, 
who thoroughly enjoyed it. He addressed all the en- 
velopes and sent off the invoices. In his spare mo- 
ments he indexed books and made himself generally 
useful. 

In the meantime he had secured a small side room 
in a boarding house, and spent his leisure time — ^he 
had very little — visiting the water front and inciden- 
tally seeing a new city. During his hour for dinner 
he never missed a day that he did not hurry to the 
wharves to inquire for the Suzanne. 

There was only one drawback to Jack’s good situ- 
ation with the Pitman & Barnes Mfg. Co., and that 
was occasioned by the meanness of one who worked 
in the same office with Jack. 

Timothy McVeigh, or “ Tim,” as he was called, 
had shown a resentment to our hero ever since the 
first day of his coming. It was McVeigh who scowled 
at the boy, and pushed his elbow on that first evening, 
and ever after showed his dislike in many ways. 

At first Jack did not know why he had incurred this 
enmity, but learned afterward that one of the boys 


JACK LOSES HIS TEMPER 


I71 

who had applied for the position was a friend of Mc- 
Veigh's, and that this young man had been very much 
disappointed because his friend did not get the 
place. 

Jack Tenfield did not notice many petty, mean, little 
acts that McVeigh meant for his eyes alone. After 
a while, however, they became almost unbearable, 
and the boy’s manly spirit resented them, to such an 
extent that he was on the point of having a quarrel 
with McVeigh on several occasions. But Jack Ten- 
field’s position meant everything to him, situated as 
he was, and he was fearful of losing it; therefore he 
bore much from the older boy in silence. 

He had been the victim of several mean practical 
jokes planned by McVeigh, which he had quietly ig- 
nored, until one day the boy’s pent-up thoughts and 
feelings burst into action. It was noon-time and Jack, 
starting out for dinner, reached for his hat in a closet, 
where the men hung their clothes. The hat was gone, 
and hanging in its place was an old, brimless straw 
hat that looked as if it had been picked out of an ash- 
barrel. 

Jack’s face reddened with anger. He was in a 
hurry to get to the wharves, and chafed at any delay 
in his short hour. Your hat’s in Room ii,” whis- 


1/2 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

pered Levi Stone, a small errand boy, who was stand- 
ing near. 

Jack knew that there was such a room, where some 
of the young men congregated in the noon hour, but 
he had never been in it. He ran quickly up the stairs, 
opened the door of Room ii, and walked into a party 
of young men sitting around on boxes, making an 
admiring group, with McVeigh for a center, who was 
pouring beer from a large pitcher, and passing it 
around. 

Jack spied his hat on a barrel, and took possession 
of it at once. 

‘‘ Here, yer half-starved Yankee, take a drink,” 
drawled McVeigh, holding a cup of beer toward the 
boy. Without a word. Jack Tenfield knocked the cup 
out of McVeigh’s hand, and it crashed to the floor, 
spilling its contents. McVeigh, with an oath, made 
a rush toward Jack, but our hero gave him a smash- 
ing blow on the cheek that sent him staggering back- 
ward. 

By this time every man was on his feet. You 
dare to cal) me a half-starved Yankee! You big 
coward! ” roared Jack, making a run at his tormentor, 

who had renewed the attack. 

# 

“ Here ! here ! this won’t do ! ” said a big, broad- 


JACK LOSES HIS TEMPER 


173 


shouldered shipper, stepping between the boys. 
‘‘You’ve got to take some one your size, McVeigh; 
you’re four or five years older than this lad.” 

“No such thing!” cried McVeigh, “he’s eighteen 
if he’s a day.” 

“ That’s a lie,” cried Jack, and again he struck out 
with a fury that held the spectators spellbound for an 
instant, then they held him, and McVeigh was led off 
with a bloody nose. 

Jack could not eat any lunch that day. 

He walked slowly toward the wharves, sorry that 
he had lost his temper, and still full of indignation 
at the other boy’s action. 

That afternoon, when he was bending over his 
desk hard at work, he was called to the manager’s 
private office. The man of few words scanned Jack 
from head to foot, when the boy stood before him. 

“ We don’t have rowdies in our employ,” said the 
man in scathing tones. - “ Go to the cashier, get what 
money is due you, and leave this office at once.” 

Jack did not speak, but his lip quivered at the man- 
ager’s words. After all, he was only a boy, and if he 
had opened his lips to say one word, the mortifying 
tears would surely have appeared. 

Jack felt that he could not speak to any one at that 


174 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


moment, and without a word he got his hat and 
rushed out of the place. When halfway up the street 
he heard some one calling his name, and turned to see 
Levi Stone waving a small envelope. 

‘‘ It’s your money,” said Levi, the cashier sent 
me after you.” 

Jack took the envelope, and continued on his way. 

‘‘ McVeigh got the sack, too ! ” shouted Levi, but 
Jack never heard him as he hurried along, not know- 
ing where, but longing to be alone. 

After a walk, he turned into the street that con- 
tained his lodging house. He entered his cheerless 
room, and sat on the bed, his bright, boyish face 
clouded with disappointment. But Jack Tenfield was 
not given to brooding over misfortunes. Time was too 
precious to waste in that way. In a very short time 
his active mind was planning to seek other employ- 
ment. 

Before doing this, however, he decided to write 
Mr. Ford De Wolf a long letter, and tell him all that 
had happened. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


JACK TAKES A NEW POSITION 

The following morning Jack Tenfield was up very 
early, anxious to look for employment as soon as 
possible. He asked a man in the lodging house about 
the different newspapers, and having learned which 
was the best for want advertisements,” bought a 
copy and proceeded to read them. 

There were only two advertisements for boys ; one in 
a dry-goods house, the other in a hay and grain store. 

Jack chose the latter and presented himself in due 
season as an applicant, but the very first question was 
about his references from the Pitman & Barnes Mfg. 
Co. Of course. Jack did not have any, and when the 
man in the grain store questioned him about his dis- 
missal, Jack told the truth and was in turn politely 
told that he would not suit. 

With many misgivings in his mind Jack walked 
rapidly to the other end of the city to the dry-goods 
house, but he was again disappointed. The man in 
the office informed our hero that he would not con- 
175 


176 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

sider him for one moment without a reference from 
his last place. 

All the rest of the day Jack trudged over the city, 
looking for work, and returned to his cheerless room 
at night weary and disappointed. 

The next three days were spent in a similar round 
of disappointments, and Jack’s little sum that he had 
saved while in the Pitman & Barnes Mfg. Co., began 
to dwindle very perceptibly. He wondered again and 
again why he did not hear from Mr. Ford De Wolf, 
and one evening when everything seemed very gloomy 
he wrote another letter, asking Mr. Ford’s advice. 

On the morning of the fifth day he started out and 
after a walk turned his footsteps toward the wharves. 
A fine penetrating mist began to fall that became a 
steady downpour of rain. Jack turned up his collar 
and walked briskly. He had almost reached his ac- 
customed place of inquiry for the Suzanne, when he 
noticed a covered wagon, on the side of which was 
printed in large letters : 

BOSTON CRACKERS* 

AND 

SHIP’S BREAD 

The word '' Boston ” had a fascination for Jack, and 
his eyes were riveted upon it for a full minute. 


JACK TAKES A NEW POSITION 1/7 

While he was still gazing, the cart suddenly stopped 
and the driver called out, “ Say, sonny, do you want a 
job?” 

“ Yes, sir,” replied the boy promptly. 

‘'All right, step right up here,” said the man, 
making room for Jack beside him. “ My boy had an 
accident this morning,” he went on, “ nothing serious, 
but hedl be laid up for a spell.” At this point 
they turned into one of the wharves at the end of 
which was a huge ship. The man directed Jack about 
certain matters, and the boy was soon busy carrying 
biscuit from the wagon down into the steward’s quar- 
ters on the ship. He had to get on his hands and 
knees and crawl into the narrow part of the fore- 
castle where the cuddies were in which the biscuit or 
“ hardtack ” was packed. 

This biscuit is a little larger than a common soda 
biscuit, but twice as thick, dark brown in color, and 
hard as a stone. It is always dipped in some liquid 
before using, to make it palatable. 

“ You do first-rate for a green hand,” said the 
driver when they were in the wagon, and on the way 
to another wharf. “ I reckon I’ve seen you ’round 
here before.” 

“ Yes, sir, I think you must have seen me, if you 


178 


JACK TENFIELd's STAR 


have been around here much. I come every day. 
I’m on the lookout for a friend of mine that is on 
the Susanne/' 

“ The Suzanne — ^big four-master — Captain Her- 
ford ? ” said the man slowly. 

‘‘Yes, sir; do you know her?” asked the lad, all 
interest. 

“Certain,” said the other; “she’s due here ’most 
any time, now ; hold on, and I’ll find out when she was 
heard from last,” he added, and to Jack’s surprise 
jumped down from the wagon and disappeared behind 
the door of an office on one of the wharves. 

Jack’s heart gave a bound when the man came out 
a few minutes later, saying that the Suzanne was re- 
ported by a steamer about two months ago. 

“How did you find out?” asked Jack, greatly in- 
terested. 

“Why, that’s the office of the shipping news; the 
list of every one of ’em is in there.” 

The boy smiled to himself as he realized how much 
easier it would have been for him to have made his 
inquiries there also, instead of walking all over the 
docks, and asking questions here and there of 
strangers. 

In the course of a few weeks Jack felt very much 


JACK TAKES A NEW POSITION 1/9 

at home down at the wharves, and on the numerous 
ships that his employer supplied with bread. He 
liked his new work, and hated to think of the time 
that the other boy would return to take his place 
again. He met a great many strange sailors from dif- 
ferent parts of the world, and saw various curios and 
pet animals that had been picked up in foreign parts. 

On one occasion he had an experience that he did 
not soon forget. He was loading a French ship from 
India one morning, that had a cargo of spices, and had 
just made his way into the ship’s hold with the bread, 
when all at once a hatch was closed over him, making 
him a prisoner. Jack picked up a mallet, used for 
caulking the decks, and pounded on the hatch with 
all his might. He made a great noise, and in a few 
seconds steps were heard, and he was let out by a 
grinning Spanish sailor. 

Look here ! ” cried the boy, that’s a pretty 
serious thing to joke about — anybody would suffocate 
in there in a very short time.” 

The sailor mumbled something in Spanish, and 
pointed to a monkey a short distance away, that Jack 
had not noticed before. 

‘‘Yours?” queried Jack, making signs that the 
sailor would understand. 


l80 JACK TENFIELD'’S STAR 

No me gusta ” was the answer, which meant, I 
don’t like,” while Jack walked over to the little fellow, 
who sat there blinking his shrewd eyes. 

So,” said Jack, “ you locked me in that hole, did 
you ? ” He had hardly said the words, when the 
monkey made a spring, caught Jack’s cap, and scam- 
pered off with it as fast as he could go. He climbed 
up the rigging like a flash till he got very near the 
top of the mainmast, and there he sat, turning his 
head from side to side, dangling the cap, now in his 
hands and again grasping it with both feet, and 
swinging with one hand from the dizzy height. 

Jack watched the antics of the monkey till his 
neck ached, and he began to grow anxious to get his 
cap. 

Suddenly the monkey started to descend, but when 
almost down he took a jump and reached the tip end 
of the main yard. Jack began to whistle softly, and 
held a biscuit to coax him. All at once the mis- 
chievous little fellow dropped the cap into the water, 
and presented himself before Jack for his reward. 

Our hero did not like to lose his only cap, but it 
was gone, and there was no use in crying over spilt 
milk. 

A good-hearted Frenchman, who had witnessed the 


JACK TAKES A NEW POSITION l8l 

performance, gave Jack an old black felt hat to wear 
home that our hero accepted with thanks. 

“ That’s a queer-looking thing they gave yer to 
wear,” said the driver with a smile, when Jack had 
related his adventure with the monkey. 

It looks as if it had seen some pretty rough 
weather.” 

Oh, well,” laughed Jack, “ I shall buy a new cap 
to-night.” 

He little knew what was in store for him when he 
made this remark. 


CHAPTER XIX 


A NEW CAP, AND WHAT FOLLOWED 

Jack usually took a walk in the evening. He liked 
to watch the crowds, the strange faces about him, 
and look into the windows of the stores. 

The evening that he started out to buy a cap, he 
chose a section that he knew very little about. The 
location had been suggested by his German landlady, 
^ as a good place to buy any kind of wearing apparel. 

“ Plenty shops and cheap,’’ she had remarked as a 
final recommendation. 

The boy soon discovered that the street she had in 
mind contained a number of small stores, kept by He- 
brews, who did a thriving business at night. Into one 
of these small stores walked our hero, bought a new 
cap, and departed. 

After walking a short distance he turned into a dark 
street, which he recognized as one not very far from 
the docks. 

It was near a lamp-post that Jack noticed a tall man 
almost at his elbow, who accosted him pleasantly. 

182 


A NEW CAP, AND WHAT FOLLOWED 1 83 

‘‘ Hello! sonny, taking a walk? said the man, turn- 
ing a rough, weather-beaten countenance toward the 
boy. 

‘‘Yes, sir; I walk around here a great deal,'’ re- 
plied Jack, pleased to have some one to talk with on 
the dark street. 

“You like to look at the big ships down there, I 
bet," drawled the stranger. “ Do you live near by ? " 

“ Oh, no, sir ! " said Jack with a smile, “ my home 
is in Boston. When I came here a few months ago, 
I didn't know a soul." 

“ You don't say," returned the other, “ well, you're 
a pretty smart chap, and away on here from Boston! 
But I was jest like yer. I ran away when I was your 
age, too, an' I had a great time, I tell yer." 

“ I didn't run away, sir," said the boy quickly. “ I 
came out here with a letter to a friend of a Mr. De 
Wolf, but the car was burned, and I lost the letter 
and all my money. You see I had not read the address 
on the letter, so I had to shift for myself. I'm ex- 
pecting a letter any day from Mr. De Wolf, telling 
me just what to do." 

“ You're the lad ! " cried the man, giving Jack an 
admiring pat on the shoulder, “ I bet you've struck 
luck, too." 


1 84 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

Tve got work, Tm thankful to say,’’ said Jack, 

but it’s only for a while. I’m waiting for my chum. 
He’s on a ship due here any time, now. Perhaps I’ll 
join him, and go to Alaska with Captain Her ford.” 

“ You don’t say ! ” exclaimed the smiling stranger. 

Well, I’m in that business myself, so I’m some in- 
terested. What ship might it be you’re waiting for? ” 

The Susanne, Captain Herford ” 

Not the Suzanne, Captain Herford, bound for 
Alaska ? ” interrupted the stranger glibly. 

‘‘Yes, sir; do you know anything about her?” 
was the eager question. 

“ Know the Suzanne! well, I should say I knew 
my own ship — why, she’s in port; got in ’bout an 
hour ago.” 

“Is Burge there? Burge Tebbett boarded her at 
Horn Point.” 

“Burge? a lively young chap like yourself? Of 
course he is; an’ now I think of it, you’re the very 
one he’s been telling me about for the last fortnight.” 

Jack’s heart bounded at the news, and he was ready 
with a string of questions, when the man said, “ Why ! 
you can see Burge to-night, sonny, if you’ve a mind 
to. I’m going up the street here a bit, to a boarding- 
house, where we all stop when we’re in — ^lie’s cornin’ 


A NEW CAP, AND WHAT FOLLOWED 1 8 $ 

to supper right away, and if you want to see him, 
come along with me. Of course, if you’re in a hurry 
or got anything else to do, you could wait till to-mor- 
row, an’ I’ll tell him.” 

Wait till to-morrow,” thought Jack, when there 
was a chance to see Burge that night. He could 
hardly conceal his joy and impatience as he answered, 
“ Thank you, sir. I’ll go with you now. I’d like very 
much to see him.” 

“ Come right along, then, sonny ; Burge ’ll be right 
pleased to see you, I can bet on that.” 

Oh, the tumult of joy that surged in the boy’s 
heart, as he walked beside the stranger. What a 
streak of luck, thought the lad, to have met him, and 
what a splendid surprise he would give Burge ! 

“Let’s see; he told me your name, but I’ve clean 
forgot it,” said the man suddenly. 

“ Jack Tenfield.” 

“Of course; why. I’ve heard that name ’bout 
enough times to know it, but my memory’s awful 
poor for names, anyhow. Now, do you know,” he 
went on, “ I always call him ‘ Bert,’ but his name is 
Burge, ’cause he told me so one day. Here we are,” 
said the stranger, stopping at a queer-looking old 
house with a black door, “ bet he’s up there now.” 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


1 86 

He took a key from his pocket and let Jack precede 
him into a dingy-looking hall. There was a horrible 
smell of rum and tobacco about it that surprised Jack 
Tenfield. He could not help thinking that it was a 
strange place for Burge Tebbett to come to for his 
supper, but he did not have much time to dwell upon 
this matter, as he was following his new friend up a 
flight of worn stairs and into a room. 

“ Make yourself right at home, Jack,’^ said the 
man. “ Fm goin' to order something; pT’aps you’ll 
join me.” 

Thank you,” replied the lad, Fve had my 
supper.” 

Nonsense,” said the man, pushing a chair from 
a table toward Jack, and seating himself opposite, 
“ have a doughnut an’ a cup of tea. Fll be telling you 
’bout some of our doings on the Suzanne.'' 

He left the room for a minute, and Jack glanced 
around at the ill-smelling room in which he was 
sitting. It was even more dingy and bare-looking 
than the hall below. The room was empty, save for 
an old lounge in one comer, full of humps and hol- 
lows, and the bare table with its two chairs. The bare 
walls were cracked and tobacco-stained, and taken 
altogether, the dining room in which Burge Tebbett was 


A NEW CAP, AND WHAT FOLLOWED 1 8 / 

awaited by his friend, Jack, was the dirtiest one that a 
clean, wholesome lad ever graced with his presence. 

'' Burge isn’t here yet,” said the man, coming into 
the room, and taking his place at the table, “ but he’ll 
be here any minute, so we’ll go right ahead and eat 
supper.” He placed a doughnut and a cup of tea be- 
fore Jack, and two bottles before himself. 

“ Now, don’t tell me that you can’t eat that dough- 
nut — you’ve got to. You’re a growin’ boy, and I 
wouldn’t give a cent for one that didn’t have an ap- 
petite. Why ! when I was your age, I used to smuggle 
doughnuts into bed at night, an’ sometimes fall asleep 
with half-a-one between my teeth — fact! sure’s you’re 
alive.” 

The glib stranger began to mix rum for himself 
from the two bottles, and after he had swallowed a 
couple of glasses he offered one to Jack, saying, “ It’s 
the best rum yer ever sniffed at.” 

“ No, sir,” said the boy, surprised and shocked. I 
wouldn’t drink it.” 

Never hurt yer; make yer feel full ’er spunk, an’ 
sassy, that’s all.” 

Jack made no reply, but he took a mouthful of tea 
from the dirty-looking cup, swallowing it with an 
effort; and. was in no hurry to take a second cup. 


i88 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


“ Go ahead, son, drink yer tea. Burge ’ll be here 
’most any time,” said the man, helping himself to a 
fresh supply of the liquor. 

Jack watched the door, longing for the moment to 
come that would bring Burge Tebbett. 

Our hero could not drink the nauseating tea, and it 
was anything but pleasant to sit opposite a man who 
was drinking rum. The boy had lost his good opinion 
of the man, even though he had been a fellow-sailor 
with Burge. 

Every decent, manly boy must scorn a drunkard, and 
Jack Tenfield had more than the average contempt 
for one. 

Jack’s father had been a strong temperance advo- 
cate, and had early implanted in his boy’s mind his 
own views on the subject of alcohol. Many a tale 
of woe, told by his father, after a round of visits to 
some of his poor patients, had fostered the boy’s dis- 
like and horror of liquor. He had heard his father 
say, on more than one occasion, that nine-tenths of all 
the poverty and misery in the city was caused by rum. 

There was a fine old man, who sometimes was a 
guest at his father’s table, and Jack had heard him 
say, “ Oh, for an army of preachers, a strong, upright 
army, that would go the length and breadth of the 


A NEW CAP, AND WHAT FOLLOWED 1 89 

land, fighting this terrible enemy — rum'* Jack 
thought of all these things. 

Here was a man before him not only drinking it, 
but had offered the same to a mere boy. What kind 
of a man could he be? 

Another saying of his father’s suddenly flashed 
into Jack Tenfield’s mind. “ Never trust a drunkard. 
The rum that steals away his senses, robs him of 
honor.” 

Should he have trusted this man? The question 
made Jack start suddenly, and look around him. 
After all, what proof was there that Burge would 
come to the place. Jack glanced at his companion, 
who was eyeing him with a sinister expression on his 
bold, dissipated face. 

An undefinable fear of something began to steal 
over the boy. He took another sup of the tea, to ap- 
pear self-possessed, knowing that the man opposite 
was watching him closely. 

Suddenly the door opened, and a man thrust his 
head into the room. He glanced knowingly at Jack’s 
companion, then with a grin disappeared, shutting the 
door with a bang. 

Jack Tenfield’s heart began to beat like a trip- 
hammer. Was he in some kind of a trap ? His active 


1 90 JACK tenfield's star 

mind began to ask a hundred questions, which, alas! 
he could not answer to himself. His head felt queer, 
and he could not bear to meet the sinister face of the 
man opposite. His eyes wandered past the man, and 
he began to take note of the room again. 

Go ahead ! sonny, drink yer tea,’' urged the man, 
breaking a silence that had become fearful to the boy. 

“ No, sir,” said Jack, pushing it away from him, “ I 
don’t care for any more.” 

In a second the man was on his feet. He drew a 
knife from inside his shirt, and raised it threateningly 
over the terrified boy. ‘‘ Drink that tea, damn yer, 
an’ drink it quick.” 

Jack’s trembling hand raised the cup to his lips, 
and he drained its contents. 


CHAPTER XX 


AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 

When the stranger whom Jack had met on the 
dark street, told him that the Suzanne had just come 
into port, he did not know that he was stating a fact. 

That same night three members of its crew, Burge 
Tebbett, a man named Vickery, and another called 
Smithy, were walking rapidly away from the wharves 
to have a “ land ” supper in an up-town restaurant. 

Burge towered above his companions, and although 
but a lad of seventeen there was a length of limb 
and a breadth of shoulder to him that might have be- 
longed to a man of twenty-five. 

As they hurried along they saw just ahead, at the 
corner of a short street, directly under a lamp-post, 
two men approaching, half carrying some one between 
them. Burge’s companions paid little attention to the 
trio, supposing an intoxicated companion was being 
helped along. 

The boy eyed them with natural curiosity as they 
passed, especially the helpless one, who was to all ap- 


192 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

pearances, a tramp with an old slouch hat pulled over 
his eyes. 

“ They were going through his pockets under that 
lamp-post,” said Smithy, I saw them throw some- 
thing away, didn’t you?” At this instant Burge 
stooped and picked up a piece of white paper at his 
feet. 

Perhaps it was this,” said Burge, smiling. Let’s 
see what it is.” He opened it, and beheld quite a 
lengthy poem,” which was headed 

''Lines to Jack.” 

" A sentimental tramp,” laughed Burge, while his 
smiling companions craned their necks to read the 
lines. 

" Here’s a joke, boys. If this isn’t a regular love 
letter all in rhyme.” 

" ' Dear Jack, this house is sad and drear,’ ” read 
Smithy, shaking with mirth. 

" Oh, I say, it’s rather mean if he lost it,” said 
Vickery, whose name was Jack, and who had a sweet- 
heart waiting for him in Portsmouth. " I’d like to 
give it back to the poor chump.” 

" Oh, I guess he’ll survive its loss,” returned 
Smithy in dry tones. 


AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 193 

It might teach him to let rum alone next time,’’ 
added Burge, starting to crumple up the paper. 

As he did, his eye fell upon a name at the end of 
the verses, that held his gaze, as if fascinated. 

Nannie Tenfield.” 

For a full minute Burge read that name as if he 
could not believe the evidence of his senses; then he 
thrust the paper into his pocket. 

I must see those men,” cried Burge, leaving his 
surprised companions, and darting down the street 
like a flash. At first he could not see a trace of them, 
but suddenly he caught a glimpse of three people 
quite a distance ahead, and ran faster than ever. 

Near a high board fence he caught up with the two 
men, half carrying their companion, and said quickly: 

Pardon me, but where did you find that man ? ” 
pointing to the supposed tramp. 

Find ’im?” growled the fellow, turning to Burge 
with an angry frown. ‘‘ W’y, where do you s’pose we 
found ’im? Stiff on the sidewalk, if yer want ter 
know.” 

Do you know who he is, or anything about him? ” 
asked Burge eagerly. 

The man answered with an oath and demanded 
what business it was of Burge’s, at the same time 


194 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


hurrying his burden along. Burge Tebbett followed 
at their heels, more puzzled at every step, and won- 
dering what it could mean. How could such dis- 
reputable men know anything about Jack Tenfield. 
Perhaps the tramp didn't drop the paper at all, 
thought the boy, and was on the point of turning 
away when another lamp-post was reached, and the 
angry man turned and asked Burge what right he had 
to follow them. 

Burge did not answer, as he was contemplating the 
wisdom of going about his business, when all at once 
he got a stinging blow in the eye that sent him reeling 
backward. Half blind with pain, Burge recovered 
himself and sprang at the now thoroughly aroused 
villain. 

The other man, after watching his companion for 
a second, laid the man he was supporting in the street, 
and started in to help him. 

Burge shouted for help with all his might, defend- 
ing himself as best he could. In a second he was an- 
swered by his comrades, Vickery and Smithy, who 
had walked leisurely after him, and ran at once to his 
assistance. 

At the approach of Burge's friends, the two men 
ran off as quickly as they could, leaving their limp 


AN UNEXPECTED MEETING igS 

burden, still unconscious, almost at the feet of Burge 
Tebbett. 

“ Well,’’ said Vickery, turning to the boy, this is 
rather queer business for you, Burge.” 

“ Let’s have a look at him/^ said Smithy, bending 
over the inert form, while Burge leaned against the 
fence in silence, holding one hand to his painful eye. 

Looks harmless enough for all the trouble he’s 
caused,” said the sailor, pushing back the slouch hat. 
‘‘ Why! it’s a boy!” 

Burge Tebbett darted forward and knelt beside the 
prostrate lad, whose pale face and clear-cut features 
were now plainly discernible. It’s Jack — it’s Jack,” 
cried the boy, and staggered to his feet. 

When Jack Tenfield opened his eyes he found him- 
self quite alone, in bed in a ship’s cabin. There was 
no need to ask himself how he got there. Every detail 
of his encounter with the stranger stood out vividly 
before his mind. But thinking was an effort for the 
first time in Jack’s life. His head ached so badly that 
it seemed at times as if he could not stand the pain. 
After a while he closed his eyes, and dozed off into 
a troubled sleep, in which he lived all over again the 
terrible moment in the room, when the man drew the 
knife. In the dream, however, he tried to escape by 


196 JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 

getting under the table, only to be dragged out by 
the dark-browed villain who had opened the door and 
looked in upon them. 

A wild scene followed, in which Jack jumped over 
chairs and tables, and reached a door that he opened 
and then ran down a long, dark passageway. How 
long it was ! He ran on and on, but it seemed to have 
no end, and all the while following close at his heels 
was the man with the shining knife. 

Oh ! the horror of that race, and the interminable 
length of the dark passageway. And now the man 
was gaining on him. Jack could almost feel his hot 
breath, and the knife, held aloft, sharp and shining! 
He could almost feel it in his back. He tried so 
hard, so desperately hard, to run faster, but he could 
not, and now the man was right on his heels, and the 
knife I Jack gave a shriek, and opened his eyes. 

He saw a bright, boyish face at his bedside, smiling 
down at him. He shut his eyes again. It was part 
of the dream, he supposed, and he did not want to 
wake up and find that face gone. Then some one 
laid a cool hand on his hot head, and he opened his 
eyes once more. 

“ Jack, don’t you know me? ” 

‘‘ Is it really you, Burge ? ” 


AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 197 

“ It isn’t anybody else that I know of,” said the lad 
with a smile. 

“ Where am I, Burge? ” 

“ In the best cabin, aboard the Suzanne, three hours 
out from San Francisco, bound for Seattle.” 

The pain in Jack’s head made him wince as he 
whispered, “ Where is he ? ” 

“ Whom do you mean ? Captain Herford ? ” 

“ No,” said the sick boy, drawing a hand across his 
forehead. “ I mean the man that you were always 
talking with about me, — who had the knife, and made 
me drink the tea.” 

“ Hush-sh ! you mustn’t talk any more. When 
you’re all better, you can tell me about it — not an- 
other word now,” said Burge, raising a warning 
finger. Try to go to sleep,” he added. I’ll be in 
again.” 


CHAPTER XXI 

GOOD-BYE TO THE SUZANNE ” ! 

Jack Tenfield was a very sick boy during the re- 
maining part of the trip of the Suzanne to Seattle. 
It was only a few hours before they reached the city 
that he felt really well. 

He had told the whole story to Burge, and had 
thanked fortune that he had been rescued in the nick 
of time, and had not been “ Shanghaied.” 

Shanghaied ! ” What a volume of meaning was in 
the word. What a story of horror it conveyed to the 
lad’s mind! 

‘'Just think, Burge,” said Jack one day, when he 
was well on the road to recovery, “ I might have been 
aboard some ship, bound for China or some other 
distant port, by this time. It must be a terrible thing 
to be carried off like that.” 

“Yes,” said the older boy, “I can’t think of any- 
thing more terrible. I heard Captain Tebbett tell, one 
time, about a lad that was carried off. He was 

198 


GOOD-BYE TO THE “ SUZANNE ” ! IQQ 

beaten and half-starved, and worked to death by one of 
those rascals/' 

Well, Burge, only for you. I'm pretty sure that 
would have been my fate. A man that would offer 
liquor to a boy to drink, would be capable of almost 
anything that was bad and vicious, so I have you to 
thank for escaping that horror." 

“ Not me," laughed Burge, “ it was Nannie's poem. 
You thank her when you write, and tell her to send 
some more poetry." 

That was funny ! " exclaimed Jack, I remember 
now, that afternoon I went to Aunt Cordelia's big 
house in the city, poor little Nannie told me how lone- 
some she was, and all that sort of thing. She said 
that she had written a poem to me about it, and just 
had time to slip me the paper, when my aunt appeared. 
I stuffed it in my trousers pocket, and never thought 
of it again. If it had been in my jacket it would have 
got burned with the other things. By the way, have 
you the poem ? " 

“ Yes," was the short answer. 

Jack was a little surprised when Burge added, If 
you'd like to read it, I'll get it, but if you don't mind. 
Jack, I'd like to keep that poem." 

Oh, certainly," said Jack, “ I don't want to read 


200 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

It now — any time will do. Fve read bushels of Nan’s 
poetry.” 

At this point Burge had to hurry away, as the 
Suzanne was getting ready to unload her miscella- 
neous cargo, and he had work to do. 

Jack walked about the deck, and gazed at the busy 
scenes around him, until some one called his name, 
and he went below. 

“ The Captain wants, to see you a moment. Jack, in 
there,” said Burge, pointing to a companionway. 

The boy hurriedly entered, and was greeted by a 
hearty hand-shake from the master of the ship. So 
you didn’t get to Davy Jones’s locker after all, my 
boy,” laughed the Captain, but by all ’counts you 
came mighty close to it.” 

Yes, sir,” said Jack, “ I thought myself I’d never 
get over it all. I’m very much obliged to you. Cap- 
tain,” he added. 

“ Not at all, not at all, my boy. Now, what I want 
to say is this: Burge has told me your whole story, 
and I’m in doubts whether I ought to take you along 
on this Alaskan trip, or whether it would be better to 
ship you safe to Boston.” 

Jack Tenfield’s heart sank at this statement, but his 
spirits rose when the Captain said : 


GOOD-BYE TO THE “ SUZANNE ’’ ! 


201 


“ As far as Fm concerned, Fd like to take you along 
with us first rate. You're a bit shaky yet, which is 
not to be wondered at, when you remember that pi- 
zened tea and all that followed, but when you're in 
trim there's a cut about the jib I like, an’ I guess Fll 
take yer. We won't be gone ferever. Fll explain it all 
to Captain Tebbett, and he can tell your folks.” 

The Captain was called at this point, before Jack 
could thank him, but our hero hurried away to find 
Burge and tell him the good news. 

Later in the morning Jack went aboard the dredger 
with Burge, and met some of the men who were in- 
terested in the venture of obtaining gold by this 
means. 

Among them was a young man, named Crawshaw, 
who had quite a long talk with the boys, and explained 
the course they were about to take. 

“ You are from Boston,” he said suddenly, during 
the conversation, turning to Jack. 

Yes, sir,” replied the lad, “how did you know?” 

“ By your accent,” said the young man with a 
smile. “ It is unmistakable, and when you are older, 
and have traveled more, you will be able to tell, 
after a short talk, just where certain people come 
from.” 


202 JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 

Well, sir,’’ returned Jack, with a smile on his 
boyish face, '' I think you must have come from 
Boston, also.” 

You are right,” said the man, ‘‘ I lived there all 
my life till I came West. I used to go to the Boys’ 
Latin School.” 

“ That name is familiar to Jack,” ventured Burge, 
he goes there.” 

The young man looked at Jack with renewed in- 
terest, and asked him some questions about the school. 
This led to the young man’s telling the boys a part 
of his own experience. '' I came out here to Marys- 
ville two years after I was through school, expect- 
ing to find a ' wild and woolly ’ town, but was 
agreeably surprised to see a well laid out city. I 
started a little paper, ‘ The Marysville Leader,’ and 
some time later published another, ‘ The Snohomish 
Times.’ 

‘'At first everything prospered, and I was doing 
very well, but later on reverses came, so I sold out 
one day, and started for Silverton — that really was a 
little ‘ wild and woolly.’ ” 

“What kind of a place was it?” asked Jack, 
greatly interested in the young man’s story. 

“ Silverton ? ” said Mr. Crawshaw. “ Well, picture 


GOOD-BYE TO THE '' SUZANNE ” ! 203 

to yourself a town in a narrow valley, on a swift- 
running river, and surrounded on all sides by high 
mountains, many of them snow-capped. 

It was about forty miles from the Sound, and at 
an altitude of nearly two thousand feet. Many of the 
mines are that much higher. The town was built of 
log and shake — split cedar boards — houses and tents, 
and when I went there it was rapidly developing into 
a live mining camp. 

It was what is called ‘ a low-grade camp,^ that is 
to say, the ores are ' rebellious,’ and require long treat- 
ment to separate the precious metals from the base 
metals, which accompany them. The ore bodies are 
large, and the outlook was excellent. I started a paper 
there called ‘ The Granite Falls Miner.’ I also did 
some prospecting myself, and had a couple of men out 
in the hills. One day I had an offer from a friend in 
New York to go to Alaska on this dredge, so I sold out 
and here I am.” 

The boys were very much interested in all that the 
young man had told them, especially Jack, who deep 
down in his heart had literary ambitions, and the 
thought of running a newspaper himself some day 
had been a boyish dream ever since he was a very 
small urchin. 


204 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


Washington is a pretty big place/' said Burge, 
when one stops to think of it." 

Big — you’re right there, my boy," said the man. 
Why, there are a great many people who haven’t 
any idea of the size of some of our Western States. 
I heard a man say, one day in Marysville," the young 
man continued, “ that he had come from ’way back in 
the East. Imagine my surprise when I found out that 
he meant North Dakota." 


CHAPTER XXII 


GOING NORTH 

When the Suzanne had disposed of her cargo, she 
found herself in charge of a new master. Captain 
Herford and his crew got aboard the big dredger, and 
one fine morning the engines were set in motion, and 
they sailed out of the harbor, heading for the north. 

For a while there was very little excitement for 
our boys, who made themselves generally useful do^ 
ing a little of everything, from washing dishes to 
working around the engines. 

One morning the dredger was directed towards a 
small bay or inlet, which narrowed to a creek at the 
foot of a mountain, down the side of which could be 
seen a stream winding its way to the sea, and which 
our prospectors hoped would prove to be gold-bearing 
in the sand washed down with it and deposited on 
the bottom of the creek. 

In a short time a suitable place was selected and at 
a word of command the dredger was anchored by its 
four large posts or ''spuds,’' one at each corner of 
205 


2o6 jack ten Fields's star 

the deck, driven into the bed of the creek by ma- 
chinery. 

When all was ready, word was sent to the engine 
room, and very soon the machinery was at work, stir- 
ring up the mud and gravel on the river bottom. 
This was pumped upon deck into long troughs, and 
then over a device furnished with compartments filled 
with mercury, which attracted the gold in the mud, 
and which were cleaned every now and then to see 
the results. 

Day after day Jack watched the process, and was 
surprised to see what a very small amount of gold was 
obtained after all this labor. 

Captain Herford was disappointed, but kept busily 
working, hoping to strike a rich find.'' 

Sometimes at night, when the day’s work was over, 
all hands sat around on the broad deck and strange 
tales of land and sea were exchanged between the 
shipmates. 

It was on one of these nights, with a sea of stars in 
the sky, and the great mountains looming up from the 
shore, that Jack and Burge sat side by side and heard 
Captain Herford tell a weird story. 

‘‘ It's nigh onto forty years ago, but it's all as clear 
as if it happened yesterday." 


GOING NORTH 


207 


With this preliminary, the Captain began his tale. 

There was a certain rocky island off the coast of 
South America, which sailors declared had treasure 
enough buried on her to float a king’s navy. 

Not a seafaring man that rounded the Cape in 
those early days but had heard and believed the 
tale. 

It was supposed to be the spoils of pirates. Be 
that as it may, the treasure was there, so everybody 
claimed, and one day a company was formed in Lon- 
don to begin the search, and I happened to be a sailor 
on the ship, the Tirzah, Captain Luce, that was to 
carry them to the island of the hidden millions. 

“ The party was under a youngish chap, named 
Griggs, and they carried all the necessaries to go 
ahead and dig. 

We had a good passage and reached there in the 
early summer. 

It seems like the other day, everything is so plain, 
that Griggs came on deck early one morning while I 
was cleaning up a bit. He had as fine a head and 
shoulders as ever I see on a man, and he says to me 
with a smile: 

^ I have a fancy to go over to the island before 
breakfast. What do you say? ’ 


208 jack tenfield^s star 

“ ‘ All right, sir,’ says I, and I lowered the boat and 
we pushed off. 

“ When we got well in Griggs jumped ashore. 

‘ You wait here,’ says he, ‘ and if I want you I’ll 
whistle.’ 

‘‘ You see we had only anchored the night before, 
and I knew that Griggs was jest wild to take a look 
around himself. 

“ My eye followed him for a short while as he went 
inland a bit, but it was so rocky that pretty soon I 
lost sight of him altogether, and I just drifted about 
while waiting. 

‘‘ At last the minutes began to drag, and not a sight 
or sound of Griggs, and as I had to hurry back, I 
thought I’d step ashore and tell him. 

“ I tied the boat and waded ashore, and hadn’t more 
than turned a sudden rocky point, when I came right 
plump upon him — stretched out for dead. 

“ Dead I thought he was for a minute, but I felt 
his heart and knew he was alive. I took a quick look 
around me, but there wa’n’t a human in sight, then I 
glanced at Griggs, when to my horror I noticed that 
his right thumb had been cut off and was nowhere 
in sight. 

I lost no time then, but hurried back to the boat 


GOING NORTH 


209 


and gave the alarm. Pretty soon I had help and we 
got Griggs aboard the Tirzah. 

“ The poor fellow did not come to for hours; when 
he did — ^but, pshaw ! what’s the good of goin’ over all 
those ravings again — fact is, he was clean out of his 
head. 

“ Well, boys, we found a mystery on our hands, 
biggest kind of a one it was, but later in the day Cap- 
tain Luce, with about every man on board, and all well 
armed, went ashore. 

‘'We went over that island, but there was not the 
slightest sign of life anywhere, so we gave it up and 
returned to the Tirzah more puzzled than ever. 

“ The next day a fellow named Blowitz, who had 
been with the captain and had scoured every part of 
the island, made up his mind to go over alone — he 
wouldn’t even let me row him over. 

“ When he didn’t come back for 'dinner we went 
after him, and found him exactly in the same place we 
got Griggs. 

“ His right thumb was missing and his mind had 
gone with it. Blowitz never recovered. He died, poor 
fellow, on the way home, and was buried at sea. 

“ Well, sir, after we found Blowitz, that settled it. 
The men who came to dig for the treasure all the way 


210 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

from London did not seem in any hurry to begin 
work. 

They had a holy horror of the place, and some of 
them said openly they wanted to get away. One and 
all refused to begin work. 

“ The captain was puzzled, but he thought if he’d 
wait a little while the men would get over their super- 
stitious dread of the place, and in the meantime he’d 
be on the lookout to try and solve the mystery. 

Well, sir, that island began to have a fearful fas- 
cination for me. I rowed clean around it every day, 
while the Tirzah lay anchored there and looked in vain 
for a sign of life. 

At first I didn’t dare go ashore, although each day 
I felt a little bolder. I tried hard to get some of the 
others interested, but they all declared there was a 
horned devil on it, who cut off your thumb and left you 
mad just for sport. 

“ By this time Griggs began to mend, and though 
he talked strangely enough at times, there were days 
that he was quite rational. 

“Two of the men attempted to ask him about the 
thumb business, but he flew into such a violent rage 
that they shut up and never tried it again. 

“ But I was bound I’d find out something from 


GOING NORTH 


2II 


Griggs, and used to bring his meals to him on purpose. 
One night when he had drank some soup that I had 
brought to him he seemed more like the Griggs that 
used to be, and I started in to have a talk. 

“ I spoke about the weather and the ship, and every- 
thing I could think of except the one thing that I 
wanted most to talk about. 

You see, I had seen what Griggs was before he 
went ashore that mornin’, and what a different kind 
of a man he Speared to be after, an’ I was a bit back- 
ward about mentionin’ it. However, it was Griggs 
himself who opened the way. 

“ ' It was you, Herford,’ says he, ' that rowed me 
over there, wasn’t it ? ’ 

‘‘ * Yes, sir,’ said I, ^ and all I regret is that I didn’t 
go ashore with you.’ 

Griggs laughed, and a most diabolical sound it 
was, and he says : ‘ Sorry that you weren’t mutilated, 
hey? ’ 

'' ‘ If there’d been two of us, perhaps it might not 
have happened,” I remarked. 

** * When are we going to get out of this cursed 
place ? ’ said Griggs, ignoring my remark. 

I didn’t answer him at once. I was burnin’ with 
curiosity to ask him a few questions, but rememberin’ 


212 JACK TENFIELD''S STAR 

the Story of the other two, I asked nothin’, but I 
said : 

“ ‘ Well, Griggs, I’m goin’ over to that island to- 
morrow mornin’ alone, same as you did, and take my 
chances.’ 

“ His face turned white and he clutched my hand. 

“ ' Don’t, Herford,’ says he, ‘ don’t you do it.’ 

“ ‘ Tm determined to go,’ says I ; ‘ of course if you’d 
tell a feller what he might expect he’d know better 
how to defend himself, in case anything turned up — 
but speak it or keep it. I’m going.’ 

“ Griggs was silent for nearly five minutes, an’ I 
was just beginning to get uneasy, when he spoke. 

“ ‘ Well, Herford,’ says he, ‘ if anybody told me the 
facts that Dm goin’ to state. I’d say they were crazy 
— that’s all — ^you can believe what you please — but I 
hadn’t walked twenty steps that mornin’ I left you 
when I saw cornin’ toward me the most hideous 
monster that the mind of man could imagine. 

‘‘ ‘ Whether it was beast or devil, I didn’t wait to 
see. I turned to run, when, to my horror, there was 
another not a yard away, and it seemed as if fifty of 
them peered at me from behind the rocks.’ 

He threw something over my head like a sheet. 
That is all I remember. You know the rest, and the 


GOING NORTH 21 3 

proof of it I shall carry with me through life/ He 
shuddered as he held up his mutilated hand. 

It was a grewsome tale, but it didn’t kill the desire 
I had in me to go on that island. 

“ I laid in my bunk that night, and I went over 
Griggs’ story fifty times in my mind. 

“ No beast, thought I, was throwin’ a sheet over a 
man’s head, and no devil but a human one was a cut- 
tin’ off thumbs. 

“ I had a certain theory of my own about the whole 
business, and early the next mornin’ I started to row 
over to the island, landin’ at the same spot, near as I 
could figure, that I had taken Griggs. 

I held one hand carelessly in my blouse, but it was 
holding tight, you bet, to a thirty-two caliber. I turned 
in from the rocky shore, and hadn’t taken twenty steps, 
when, sure enough, out of the ground, it seemed, 
cornin’ towards me was the thing. 

It had horns, and looked half man and half beast ; 
but, as you can see, I had no time to examine de- 
tails. 

“ Instead of turnin’ suddenly to run away as 
Griggs had — I knew there’d be the other one — I took 
a right-hand course and ran like mad for a few yards, 
and then turned suddenly, my revolver cocked. There 


214 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


was the other, sure enough, cornin’ toward me, but he 
dropped like lead when my bullet struck his heart. 

“ When I turned my smokin’ pistol for the other, 
there wasn’t a trace of him. 

“ My first impulse was to give chase, but I didn’t 
know just how many of these queer monsters there 
might be, and as discretion is the better part, you 
know, I took a hurried survey of the thing I had shot, 
and found just such an arrangement as I had figgered 
out. 

'' One of the horns had been knocked out of position 
in the fall, and showed as clever a piece of make-up 
as ever I saw. 

The man’s face had been painted black, and he 
wore a suit covered with hair, that gave him the ap- 
pearance of a huge ourang-outang. 

“ I didn’t wait to look him over very closely, as I 
was anxious to get back to the ship and tell my story. 
So I hurried off, and Captain Luce and almost every- 
body aboard came back with me to see my curiosity; 
but we were disappointed. The body had been re- 
moved while I had gone, and we couldn’t see a trace 
of it. 

“ Some of the men, at my urgent request, made a 
hurried search. Every part of the island was ex- 


GOING NORTH 


215 


plored, and I was givin^ up in despair, when my eye 
fell upon a small piece of white cloth on the edge of 
a j^^ged rock. I started towards it and discovered the 
entrance to a small cave. 

“ It was empty, but near the openin’ was a small 
pile of human thumbs. 

''We also found several holes in different parts of 
the island, which showed that the men had been dig- 
gin’ for the treasure. 

" The island was not far from the mainland, and we 
decided that they must have got ashore. That’s the 
whole story, though I might add that we never found 
the least sign of the great treasure.” 


CHAPTER XXIII 

JACK^S FIRST BEAR-HUNT 

One morning- the '' spuds ” were hoisted, and the 
big dredger slowly steered her course farther north. 

They were now in Southern Alaska, and as the fruits 
of their labors thus far had proved anything but satis- 
factory, Captain Herford had hopes of better luck in 
the more northern waters. 

They sailed to the mouths of creeks and inlets, and 
for weeks worked hard to obtain the gold that they 
knew was in the soil. 

By far the most interesting part of the journey to 
the boys now was the hunting and fishing. 

They caught more salmon than anything else in the 
way of fish, and the entire party had grown so tired 
of this dish, served up in all sorts of ways by Sambo, a 
big, good-natured negro, that one morning Captain 
Herford and some of the men started out to see if they 
couldn’t get something else for a change. 

Our boys were in the party, each armed with a 
216 


jack's first bear hunt 217 

rifle. When they got ashore and went into the woods, 
they hoped to find plenty of game. 

Jack and Burge had kept together, and were so in- 
tent in looking about for signs of life that they lost 
the main party, and found themselves near a stream. 

They had not gone far when, all at once. Jack 
caught Burge by the arm, and stood perfectly still, 
watching a novel sight. 

On a slight projection about two hundred yards 
ahead was an immense bear, getting his dinner in the 
following manner. 

He stood so still that it seemed to the boys that a 
great statue was posed before them, not the slightest 
motion could be seen in his huge body, as he looked 
into the water of the stream. Suddenly the boys saw 
him plunge his immense paw downward and bring up 
a fat salmon, which he devoured in the shortest pos- 
sible time. Again and again he brought forth a 
squirming fish, while the boys stole cautiously toward 
him, their hearts beating faster at every step. 

Suddenly they stood. Jack was tingling to shoot, 
but never before had he attempted to shoot anything 
that had life, and he was conscious of a peculiar sen- 
sation. 

Let us both take aim and fire together," whispered 


2i8 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


Burge, and suiting the action to the words, the boys 
discharged their rifles; but they had aimed poorly. 
Jack’s bullet had gone wide of the mark, while that of 
Burge had struck the bear’s ear. 

He turned with a grunt of rage. Burge in his ex- 
citement stumbled over a stump of a tree, at the same 
time crying: 

Quick, Jack, fire! ” 

Jack was trembling with excitement as he took 
aim again. And true aim it was, for in less than a sec- 
ond after he fired the big brute rolled over in a heap. 
Burge was on his feet by this time, and fired again 
and again. 

The boys ran to the fallen animal, and gazed on the 
result of their first bear hunt. 

I wish the others were here,” cried Jack, elated 
beyond measure at the success, and full of boyish pride 
to show what he had done. 

Burge gave a prolonged whistle, then another and 
another, which was finally answered. 

‘‘That’s Captain Herford’s whistle,” said Burge, 
“ they can’t be far away.” 

He was right. The Captain’s party suddenly ap- 
peared to report their poor luck, but shouted with glee 
when they saw what the boys had brought down. 



Jack was trembking with excitement as he took aim 

AGAIN. — Page 218. 













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JACK^S FIRST BEAR HUNT 2ig 

‘‘ He’s a beauty,” said Captain Herford, and will 
furnish us with steak for quite a little time.” 

The bear was carted home, and Sambo showed all 
his teeth at the prospect of cooking something new. 

“ You kin go an’ git up an appetite, fo’ yo’ll git de 
best bear steak yo’ ever imagined fo’ yo’ dinner.” 

“ That’s good. Sambo ! that’s the way to talk. Let’s 
see you do your best,” said Captain Herford. At the 
same time turning to the boys, he said : 

How would you like to look around a bit this 
morning? You’ve had such good luck with your 
guns, perhaps you’d like to try it again.” 

The boys were very much pleased at this sugges- 
tion and, after a few directions from the guide, who 
cautioned them not to go a great way from the stream, 
they started off. Following the advice given them, 
the boys tramped on for nearly a mile in a forest of 
pines. This brought them to a slight elevation, 
studded with spruce trees. They stood for a second 
and looked around them, but no sign of life was 
visible. They started to climb a small hill to get a 
better view, and had taken but a few steps when Jack 
almost stumbled over the skeleton of a man. Both 
lads gave a start, and stood gazing at the grewsome 
sight for several seconds. 


220 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


Well,” said Burge, this is a queer find, isn’t it? ” 

I’d like to know who the poor fellow was, and 
how it all happened,” mused Jack. 

“ Perhaps he was a trapper,” ventured Burge, “ he 
might have died from exposure. I wouldn’t like to be 
alone in this wilderness very long.” 

Let’s look around. There might be something 
that would give a clew,” said Jack, looking on the 
ground at his feet, and behind a clump of bushes. 
He had hardly uttered the words when his eye lit upon 
an old leather pocket-book, as ragged and weather- 
beaten as if it had lain there for twenty years, and 
perhaps it had. 

Jack opened the book, while Burge stood beside 
him and scanned its contents. The first few pages 
were filled with drawings and sketches of maps, and 
figures that the boys did not, of course, understand. 

On the last page, however, dated seven years before, 
they made out the following: 

It is now twelve days since I left Camp Everett. 
Have lost my way in a terrible storm. 

‘‘Amidon Seers.” 

He was probably a prospector,” murmured Jack, 
‘‘ and it was a hard fate.” 


jack's first bear hunt 221 

The boys talked about it for some time, and decided 
to return at once and report the matter to Captain 
Herford. Accordingly they retraced their steps, and 
soon found themselves within sight of the dredger. 
As they neared the creek they heard a bell clang the 
fact that dinner was ready. 

Captain Herford liked promptness, and so the boys 
hurried along, and decided not to tell him until the 
meal was over. 

It was a hungry set of travelers who sat down to 
dinner that day, and when Sambo placed a steaming 
pot of soup in the center of the table, there was a 
murmur of satisfaction on all sides. 

“ Changed my mind de las' minute ’bout dis 
dinner,” said Sambo, serving the soup with a broad 
grin on his shining face. 

‘‘Changed your mind, did yer?” said the mate. 
“ You’re always doing that same thing. Sambo. You 
pretty nearly changed it not to come to Alaska, but 
you did. Makes me think o’ Warney Hobbs,” he 
said, turning to Captain Herford. “ It’s a true story, 
too!” 

By this time the men were ready for the meat, and 
a welcome change from the well-known salmon was 
expected, but all at once there was a storm of protest, 


222 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


as an odor of broiled salmon reached the hungry men, 
and Sambo was called for lustily. 

“ Here, you Sambo,’’ cried Captain Herford, “ we 
are just about sick of salmon, and wanted some bear 
steak. What do you mean, anyway, by serving up 
that same old dish ? ” 

Same ol’ dish ? ” repeated Sambo, his black eyes 
rolling over the men in surprise — ^his whole attitude 
one big interrogation. “ Fo’ de Lord, Cap’n, dat’s 
bear steak I’m a-cookin’ for youse. I done cooked no 
salmon dis yer day.” 

The men looked at each other, as if they could not 
believe it, while Sambo began to serve the meat. 

“ Sambo is right,” said the mate, this bear has 
been living on salmon so long that the flesh is per- 
meated with the taste — he is salmon, that’s all.” 

That’s rather strange,” said Captain Herford, 
but I guess you’re right. And now,” said the Cap- 
tain, who liked a good yarn at dinner, “ let’s hear that 
story about Warney Hobbs.” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE mate's story 

“ Welx,^ Captain, it happened in my own town, an' 
I can vouch for it, an' it happened like this : 

“ ^ All my life,' said Warney, ‘ there's been some- 
thing a-peckin' at me to go to New York. When I 
was fifteen the hankerin' fust took me; it kind er 
wore off at twenty, but came back strong at twenty- 
five. 

‘ At thirty I'd jest abaout decided ter make my 
will an' start, when father died, and that changed my 
plans. 

' Now,' said Warney, ‘ I'm turned fifty-four, an' 
I'm a-goin', blow me, even if it does cost like 
tarnal." 

‘ Yer better not,' says Mrs. Warney — we alius 
called her that, 'cause there were four other Mrs. 
Hobbses ter onct in Woodville — ‘ don't you do any 
sech foolish thing, Warney,' said she, ^ you're a young 
man yet, an' I don't want to be a widder.' 

‘‘ ^ If you go to New York, you'll come back deef,' 
223 


224 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


says Stephen Holt. ' No one, ’less they’re born to it, 
can stand the noise.’ 

'' ' They’ll know yer a man o’ means, an’ they’ll jest 
charge you double fer everything,’ said one neighbor. 

“ ' They’ll swindle yer farm outer yer, see if they 
don’t, Warney,’ said another. 

For a month and more Warney listened to all 
these warnings, but he was determined to go, and for 
another month he went around taking advice. 

‘ I advise agin yer goin’, Warney,’ said old man 
Bailey, ‘ but if you’re determined, then go, but look 
out if any of those slick roosters come around with 
a gold brick ter sell yer. Jest show ’em your money — 
let ’m know you hev the cash, but ’fore you do any 
business you tell ’em to prove it’s a gold brick, see? 
Make ’em prove it’s genewine, then yer all right — ■ 
might close a bargain, an’ come out ahead; an’ re- 
member I warned yer.’ 

'' Warney was the hero of the town. His name 
was in everybody’s mouth, and he began to feel what 
it was to be a person of importance. It was a secret 
delight to Warney to stalk into the village store and 
see a crowd of his fellow townsmen suddenly become 
mute, and look up at him with interest. Warney 
knew they had been discussin’ his proposed trip, but 


THE mate's story 22 $ 

he tried not to feel puffed up, and looked modestly 
unconscious. 

“ Well, it got to be the third month, and Warney 
started around to say good-bye. Every day, a’ most, 
he’d harness up the ol’ mare, and off he’d start ter 
visit some one in the next kaounty. 

“ ‘ Better begin a leetle away from home,’ said 
Warney, ' and when that’s all done ’t’ won’t take so 
long in my own town. I guess I can do it all in a 
week ’round home.’ 

Now, it happened that there was just one man in 
Woodville who didn’t offer any advice or warnings, 
or urge against Warney taking the trip, and that man 
was his next neighbor, Henry Boyce. On the con- 
trary, whenever Hen met Warney he said it would be 
a great trip, and he wished he could take it himself. 

Now, Hen and Warney had been rivals when 
they was twenty-one for Sally White, and Warney 
had won out, an’ although they’d alius been good 
friends. Hen and Warney, there was a leetle feelin’ 
there, some folks said, but Henry Boyce was very well 
off — had the best farm in the kaounty, an’ was a very 
successful man. 

Well, Warney was jest a leetle oneasy ’cause Hen 
urged him to go. He got so worried about it that he 


226 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

put himself in Hen’s way scores o’ times; then he 
would mention casually the dangers an’ losses attend- 
ant on such a journey, ter see if Hen wouldn’t give in 
just a leetle like other folks, but no, sir, Henry stuck 
to it, and urged Warney to take that trip for all he 
was worth. 

Well, sir, Warney used ter lay awake nights, an’ 
think o’ ways and means to make Henry Boyce admit 
it was a risky thing to do, but he failed every time. 

At last it got to the ^ good-byes ’ in his own town, 
and after that there was nothing else to be done. So 
one Monday morning the ol’ mare was harnessed up, 
and Warney drives himself to the depot, his valise 
alongside o’ him. 

He wouldn’t let any of the folks go with him; it 
was a notion he’d got into his head. He said he’d tie 
the mare near the depot, and Billy, that was his boy, 
could go after her. 

His duster coat was flying in the breeze, as he 
druv along, an’ all the folks waved to him, and 
shouted a word or two, as he went by. 

Warney looked for Henry Boyce, but there warn’t 
a glimpse of him, and Warney’s feelings, which, one 
might say had been conflictin’ since he awoke at five 
o’clock, began to steady themselves into one big long- 


THE MATEOS STORY 22/ 

ing. As he went along he more than half wished that 
’stead of driving to the train to take him to New 
York, he was dozing comfortably on his back porch. 

“ But he stifled the longing best ' he could, and 
along. He couldn’t go back now, and that 
thought roused a little stubborn doubt. What he re- 
sented more than anything was the fact that Henry 
Boyce had urged him to take the trip. 

‘ Consarn him ! ’ muttered Warney, ‘ why don’t 
he go. If it’s sech a big thing to go to N’ York why 
don’t he take the trip himself, ’stead o’ urgin’ me ? ’ 
‘There’s something back of it,’ said Warney, his 
suspicions rising to b’iling point. ‘ Mebbe he thinks 
it will be the last o’ me, and he’s got his eye on the 
farm.’ 

“ Now, Henry Boyce had a buxom wife and ten 
children, and Mrs. Warney was the boss o’ seven, 
and her farm was free an’ clear, so it isn’t jest plain 
how Warney reasoned. However, the nearer he drove 
to the depot, the farther away he was from New York, 
far as inclination went, and the first sound of the 
train sent a mighty queer feeling over Warney 
Hobbs. 

“ He looked at the approaching train, then he cast 
his eyes over the pleasant fields o’ Woodville, same as 


228 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


if it was his last look. He got down off the team, 
glanced at the ol’ boss, and took a few steps toward 
the train. 

“ ' Shall I go? ' says Warney, half aloud. 

‘ Neigh-h-h-h, neigh-h-h-h, neigh-h-h-h,' says ol’ 
Bess, with so much vim that Warney almost fell 
over. 

He turned his back on the train, steaming away 
at the station. The bell began to clang, and the train 
began to move, but Warney stood, as if unconscious 
of it all. It puffed away, and was soon out of sight, 
still Warney would not look. 

“ When everything was still but the song of a bird 
flying over his head, Warney stroked ol’ Bess, and 
turned her face fer home. He stroked her once more, 
and looked all around. ‘ Talk about boss sense,’ says 
Warney. ‘ Well, naow ! ’ ” 

‘‘ Very good,” said Captain Herford, and for sev- 
eral minutes laughter and talk passed among the men. 

“ Well, boys, what luck did you have this morn- 
ing? ” said the Captain, turning to Jack and his com- 
panion. 

Jack thereupon told the story of their morning’s 
journey, and the finding of the skeleton. He passed 
the old leather pocket-book over to the Captain, who 


THE MATEOS STORY 229 

studied it silently for a few minutes, and put it in 
his pocket. 

After dinner Captain Herford took a few of the 
men along and went with the boys to the spot where 
they had found all that was left of the unfortunate 
man who had perished there. 

“ Too bad ! poor fellow,” said the Captain, when 
they had reached the place, and he stood gazing for 
a minute at the whitened bones. 

“ Messmates,” said the Captain, in solemn tones, 
this is how we’ll all look one day, though I pray the 
good Lord that our bones will not whiten in the wild- 
erness. It would ill become a Christian to leave here 
all that is left of one who was made after the image 
and likeness of his Maker, so we’ll do what little we 
can.” 

The skeleton was then placed in a sheet, and low- 
ered into the grave that two of the men had made. 


CHAPTER XXV 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 

The days were busy ones in camp life for Jack and 
Burge, in the way of hunting and fishing. They be- 
came quite expert with gun and rod, and had an ad- 
venture now and then to add zest to the sport. 

One afternoon an Englishman named Mory re- 
turned from a short hunt with a large supply of wild 
birds and ducks, incidentally remarking that he had 
shot at a fox but only wounded him in the leg. 

I just hit him for sport,’' said Mory. “ I had so 
much to carry that I let him go.” 

No one paid very much attention to this speech. 
Indeed ! such speeches are as common in camp life as 
remarks about the weather. 

Jack Tenfield, however, thought about it, and talked 
freely with Burge on the subject. A short time later 
both lads slipped away to follow the trail of the 
wounded fox. After a long hunt they found the un- 
fortunate animal by the tracks of blood it had left, 
230 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 23 1 

crouched in a clump of bushes, dying the cruel, lin- 
gering death inflicted upon it by a superior being. 

The fox tried to stand at the boys’ approach, but 
fell again, weak from the loss of blood. One straight 
shot from Jack’s rifle ended the sufferings of the poor 
creature. 

The boys had been so intent upon finding the trail 
of the fox that they had lost sight of time and exist- 
ence, and had been very careless about the road. 

Imagine their surprise when they supposed they 
were half-way home, to find themselves in a strange 
path, utterly at a loss to know which way to turn for 
the right road. 

‘‘ believe we’re lost,” said Burge, at last, taking a 
look around him, “ instead of being on the road for 
home, we’ve gone farther into the woods.” 

Whistle,” said Jack, somebody may be around.” 

They whistled loud and long, and waited in vain 
for an answer. 

“ I’m afraid we’ve gone some distance in the 
woods,” ventured Burge. At the same time the boys 
walked on, not knowing what else to do. 

“ I don’t think we ought to go on,” said Jack sud- 
denly, ‘‘ we may be getting farther off the road all the 
time.’" 


232 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


That's so/' said Burge, still there's a possibility 
that we may strike it, if we keep on; let's risk it any 
way." 

The lads trudged steadily on, hoping to stumble 
upon the right road, or meet some mark by which to 
guide them but, to their disappointment, they seemed 
more uncertain at every step, and they felt that they 
were deep in the woods, which began to grow dark and 
gloomy in the late afternoon. 

By and by the sky showed a crimson sunset, but 
still the boys kept on with tired feet, for the prospect 
of spending the night in the wilderness was not a 
pleasant one. When darkness was almost upon them 
they stopped, realizing the fact that they were hope- 
lessly lost. 

“ It is foolish to go on," said Jack; we’re getting 
deeper into the woods all the time. I don’t like the 
idea of staying here all night, but we'll have to do it, 
or at least till they send a scouring party out for us. 
We’d better stay right here," he went on. 

What are you going to do? " asked Burge. 

'' Make ourselves as comfortable as we can under 
the circumstances," said Jack, and trust for a speedy 
delivery," he added with a grin. 

''Before it gets any darker," said Burge, "we'd 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 233 

better get a pile of wood together. The nights are 
cold, even if it is summer. It will keep us warm, 
and frighten off bears at the same time.” 

So saying, the boys began at once, and picked up 
armfuls of broken branches, logs were dragged into 
place, and dry leaves and twigs were piled on top of 
all. Burge had a small box of matches with him, 
thanks to a suggestion of Captain Herford, who had 
told him it was wise to carry some matches in camp- 
life, in case of an emergency. 

When the wood was all piled up, the boys sat on 
a log and looked about them in the gathering dark- 
ness. The quiet of the woods became more deep and 
solemn with the approach of night. It seemed like a 
great temple with the dome of the blue sky for its 
roof, and the giant pines waiting and worshiping in 
silence. Not a sign of life, not a sound in the still air. 
Jack Tenfield and his companion felt this awful still- 
ness, and a nameless fear that came with it. No word 
was spoken, but both lads were thinking of the same 
thing, as they sat before the logs : the prospector who 
had been lost in the Alaskan woods, the bleached 
skeleton in the newly made grave. 

Suddenly, out of the darkness from afar off came a 
long, low cry. 


234 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


'' A wqlf/' whispered Jack, grasping his rifle. 

Burge jumped to his feet, took out his tin box and 
struck a match. I think it’s about time to light our 
fire,” he remarked, “ there might be a pack of wolves 
behind that cry, and they might be hungry.” 

In a short time the dry twigs began to twist and 
crackle in the flames, which the boys watched silently, 
and a touch of warmth and security made itself 
felt. 

As they sat before the burning pile, their thoughts 
turned to the men at the camp, and they expressed 
their opinions of what Captain Herford would do, 
when they did not return. The flames cast a glow on 
the tall pines, making weird pictures and shadows in 
the flickering light. 

As Jack sat there, gazing at the flames and beyond 
them, he suddenly became aware of something in the 
darkness, and that a moving object was approaching. 

For an instant he was spell-bound, then without 
taking his gaze from the cause of his alarm, he pushed 
Burge’s foot, and the next instant was on his feet, 
grasping his rifle, as if expecting an attack. 

“ Put up your rifle, my boy,” said a voice, “ I mean 
no harm.’^ The next instant a man stepped before 
them. 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 235 

Pardon me/’ said Jack. I thought it was a 
wolf,” he added with a smile, the flames half-blinded 
me, and my imagination did the rest.” 

As Jack spoke, the stranger looked at him keenly. 
'' This is a strange place for a boy like you; how came 
you here ? ” 

Jack told the story of the wounded fox, to which 
the man listened silently, but he shook his head when 
the boy finished, and said soberly, “ You did a foolish 
thing, boys, to go so far into the woods. If it were 
bad weather it might be a serious matter. A young 
man who knew this place almost as well as he knew 
the farm he left in Southern California, was lost here, 
and his body has never been found. For seven 
years I have searched for some trace of him in 
vain.” 

Was his name Amidon Seers ? ” asked Jack 
quickly. 

The man started, and looked at Jack in wonder, 
and then said in a puzzled way, ‘‘ Yes, did you know 
him?” 

Jack hereupon related the story of the skeleton, and 
the finding of the leathern pocket-book, which, he said, 
was in Captain Herford’s possession. 

'' Thank God ! ” said the stranger, dropping on the 


236 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

log beside the boys, his head bowed low. He sat there 
for several minutes, lost in thought. 

When he raised his head he turned to Jack, saying, 
“ In about three hours the moon comes up, and we’ll 
start for your camp.” 

This was good news for the boys, who had thought 
that they would have to stay all night where they 
were. 

Jack looked closely at the man, who had again 
lapsed into deep thought. His face was covered with 
a thick growth of beard. The stooped shoulders were 
massive, and the hands that were clasped idly between 
the knees were brown and toil-worn. 

But in spite of these evidences of a life of hardship, 
there was a certain air of refinement in his voice and 
manner. 

The last time I saw him,” he said suddenly, turn- 
ing to Jack, he was a lad like you, full of life and 
courage, filled with a desire to run away and see the 

world Poor Don,” he muttered, and again gave 

himself up to his own sad reflections. 

For a long time no word was spoken, the boys re- 
fraining from conversation in their sympathy with 
this man, who had learned the sad truth after seven 


years. 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 237 

At last the stranger arose, saying, “ I think we may 
start now.’’ At the same time he smothered the fire 
that had burned very low, and looked carefully to see 
that not a spark of it was left. 

As the three journeyed forward it grew lighter, 
and for a few hours the moon showed them the way. 
When it was dark again they rested. The man pro- 
duced from a bundle a couple of blankets, and told the 
boys to lie down, which they were very glad to do. 
They slept soundly^ nor did they start again until 
the first streaks of dawn appeared in the hori- 
zon. 

They had not gone very far when the sound of 
voices reached their ears. In a few minutes they met 
the party from the dredger, headed by the camp guide 
and Captain Herford. 

Explanations were forthcoming, after which they 
all went back to the camp, where the stranger was 
made welcome; and after a good breakfast, the boys 
felt but little the worse for their night’s adventure in 
the woods. 

Later in the day, Mory, the Englishman, said jok^ 
ingly, If I’d known you boys wanted that fox as 
bad as all that I’d have shot him dead the first time, 
and saved you the trouble of finding him.” 


238 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

‘‘ I wish you had/’ said Jack, '' we didn’t want the 
fox, except to put it out of misery.” 

‘‘What do you mean?” asked Mory, somewhat 
amused, and wholly surprised by Jack’s answer. 

“ Well, animals have feelings of thirst and hunger 
and pain, just the same as you and I, don’t they?” 
asked Jim. 

“ Well, what of it? ” queried Mory. 

“ When they are wounded, they suffer the same 
as you and I — only a great deal more, because they 
don’t have help. When I hunt, I shoot to kill, if I 
can — that’s sport,” declared Jack warmly. “ The 
other is butchery.” 

He went off whistling, and left Mory standing 
with a puzzled smile on his weather-beaten face. 

“What are you smiling over, Mory?” asked 
Crawshaw, a moment later, coming up. 

“ That Jack,” said Mory, “ is an uncommon kind 
of kid, but he’s going to make a man some day.” 

“ Jack,” said Crawshaw slowly, “ is going to make 
his mark in the world.” 

“ Maybe he will,” said the other. “ If he happens to 
be born under a lucky star, he’s all right.” 

“ Nonsense,” said Crawshaw, “ I don’t believe 
there’s any ‘ lucky star ’ business about it. Some- 


AN ADVENTURE IN THE WOODS 239 

body said, ‘ Man is his own star,’ and I believe it. 
■We make our own lives, Mory, and Jack Tenfield’s 
^ star ’ is the lad himself. With plenty of grit, and 
common sense, and sticking at it, there’s bound to be 
success.” 


CHAPTER XXVI 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 

Once again the “ spuds ’’ were hoisted, and the 
dredger started on her way farther north, but she had 
not gone very far when it was discovered that the 
machinery was out of order; part of it was so badly 
damaged that, after several unsuccessful attempts to 
mend it Captain Herford reluctantly decided that 
there was nothing to do but go back to Seattle for 
repairs. 

The boys were sorry to leave the scene of their 
recent adventures, the excitement of camp life, and 
the hunting and fishing, but a change of scene is al- 
ways welcome to the youthful mind, and they began 
to look forward to the trip with interest. 

It was well known that Captain Herford had been 
disappointed in the results of the dredging. The 
party had obtained very little gold for their labors, 
and even if the machinery had not given out, there 
were a few men who wanted to give it all up and go 
home. 


240 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 


241 


The journey southward was an uneventful one. 
Sometimes they went ashore in search of game, of 
which they found an abundance. Great flocks of 
birds come to the shores of Southern Alaska in the 
summer, and the boys enjoyed some splendid shoot- 
ing. 

The morning they arrived in Seattle was a memo- 
rable one for Jack. After breakfast Captain Herford 
had called the boys aside, and presented each one with 
a five dollar bill. 

You’ve earned it, boys,” said he, ‘‘ and a great 
deal more, but that’s enough for the present; now, 
there isn’t anything you can do aboard here to-day, 
so I’m going to give you the day off to go around and 
see the sights.” 

The boys were delighted and, anticipating a most 
interesting day together, they hurried away from the 
docks, and walked through the main street. 

They stood here and there, and looked into a shop 
window, or at a group of people, some of them selling 
their wares. All was new to the boys, who had not 
been in a city for many weeks. 

As they went on their way, they saw a crowd of 
people in front of a large store window. The boys 
hurried their steps, and were soon in the midst of it. 


242 JACK TENFIELD'S STAR 

The door of the store opened, and there appeared the 
round, wrinkled face pf Professor Markin, who was 
last seen at the regatta at Pullman. 

Stepping upon a small platform, the professor pro- 
ceeded to address the crowd, and Jack was glad to 
hear that he no longer spoke in hoarse whispers. 

Ladies and gentlemen,"’ said the showman, 
within these doors are some of the marvels of the 
age. Walk right in, ladies and gentlemen, and see 
the cow with the double udder, the one and only cow, 
the most marvelous freak of nature; the despair of 
P. T. Barnum, who offered a fortune, ladies and gen- 
tlemen, five thousand dollars a night for every night 
this wonderful freak would be exhibited. 

“ I would not accept — why ? — because, ladies and 
gentlemen, it is the one and only cow with the double 
udder. 

“ Walk right in, ladies and gentlemen, and see the 
beautiful snake charmer of India, the marvelous, the 
mysterious. The daughter of a Rajah king — a prin- 
cess in her own country.” 

The boys might have listened to the end of the pro- 
fessor’s story, if just at this point, somebody had not 
laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder. 

The boy turned, and saw a tall man dressed in a 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 243 

blue suit who said, ‘‘ Your name is Jack Tenfield, is 
it not?^’ 

‘‘ Yes, sir,’’ said Jack, meeting the keen eyes of the 
stranger, who suddenly opened his coat, and showed 
inside the badge of an officer. 

''Jack Tenfield, you are in my custody. You must 
come with me at once.” 

Our hero was dumb for an instant, and Burge was 
so thoroughly surprised that he could only stare at 
the man. 

" Do I understand you to say that I’m arrested ? ” 
asked Jack. 

" I have no time for explanation, now,” said the 
man, " you had better come at once.” 

" I’ll go, too,” whispered Burge, when Jack started 
to edge his way out of the crowd. He walked beside 
the stranger, while Burge followed close at his heels, 
wondering what it all meant. 

As the thought of being arrested flashed into Jack’s 
mind, his cheeks burned with shame, and the disgrace 
of being taken into a police station hurt his pride very 
much. He forgot for a moment, so deep was his mor- 
tification, that he was innocent of wrong doing. Sud- 
denly a wild desire to run away from the officer 
flashed into his mind. 


244 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


Jack began to ask himself if the man really was 
what he called himself. Ever since his experience 
with the glib-tongued stranger in San Francisco, Jack 
had been wary of trusting to appearances. It was 
good to know that Burge was with him, and, after 
going over the affair, he decided that it would be 
cowardly to run away. He would face the charge, 
whatever it was, and prove his innocence. Jack won- 
dered if the people they met on their way knew that 
he was arrested. He was glad to think that the man 
was not dressed like an ordinary policeman, and he 
wondered most of all what he had done against the 
law. 

At last they reached a large hotel and, to Jack’s 
surprise, the officer stopped and motioned the boys to 
follow him. 

“ Don’t you leave me, Burge,” whispered Jack, 
hastily stepping inside. They stepped into an elevator 
and reached the second landing, where they got off 
and walked to a room numbered “ i8.” 

The officer knocked and, without waiting, opened 
the door. At first Jack thought that there was no one 
in the room, but his eye soon fell upon a man, sitting 
with his back to the door, writing at a desk. 

When the door was shut, the man stopped writing 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 245 

for a moment and, without turning, said, “ Well, 
what news to-day? ’’ 

The officer coughed slightly, and for the first time 
gave Jack a very pleasant smile. He did not answer, 
and the man at the desk turned to look at him. The 
next instant Jack Tenfield was clasping the warm, 
friendly hand of Mr. Ford De Wolf. “ I’m very, 
very glad to see you, Jack,” said the man, “ and you, 
too, Burge.” 

“ I congratulate you, sir,” he said, turning to the 
detective. ‘‘ I didn’t think you would find him so 
soon.” 

He then bowed the officer out, and once more gave 
Jack and his companion a hearty handshake. “ Well, 
well. Jack, I little thought when I saw you on the train 
at Pullman, that all this time would pass before we 
met again. Thank Heaven, you are safe and well. 
I’ve been terribly worried, Jack.” 

‘'Didn’t you get my letters?” asked Jack. “I 
wrote you three of them.” 

“ Yes, I got them, but not until months after you 
sent them. I must tell you how it all happened. When 
I left you at Pullman, I believe I told you that I was 
going on a hunting trip to the wilds of Canada, did 
I not?” 


246 JACK TEN field's STAR 

Yes, sir; I remember it very well." 

I went, Jack, and caught something there that I 
didn’t plan to catch, and that was typhoid fever. I 
had a very bad attack and, what was worse than all, 
a severe relapse. 

“ My brother kept all business matters, letters, etc., 
away from me, so that I was in utter ignorance in 
regard to your accident on the train. 

When I learned that you had lost the letter, I 
wired you at once, but, needless to say, I was not suc- 
cessful in locating your whereabouts. I was terribly 
anxious, and at last employed a detective to look you 
up. He made inquiries at the wharves, and learned 
about your working for the cracker man. From there 
you were lost sight of for a time. At last I joined 
him, and we learned that you were on the Suzanne, 
and later, had gone with the party on the dredger. 

'' A steamer passed you last week and learned of the 
disabled condition of the machinery and Captain Her- 
ford’s intention to go to Seattle for repairs. I have 
been waiting ever since. Now, Jack, give an account 
of yourself." 

Our hero began his story at the time of the train 
disaster, and told all that had happened to the present 
moment. 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 


247 


Mr. De Wolf looked very serious when the affair 
with the man in the strange house, the drugged tea, 
and all the rest of what occurred on the dreadful 
night was related. 

“ If that terrible thing had happened; if you had 
been taken off on one of those torture-ships, it would 
have been my fault,” said the man, breaking m on 
Jack’s narrative. 

“ I think, sir, it was all my own fault. I ought to 
have known better than to tell my private affairs 
to a stranger, and I was a great simpleton to go into 
a strange house with him; it taught me a les- 
son,” added Jack thoughtfully, that I’ll never 
forget.” 

“ Jack, you are nothing but a boy, how could you 
have known? But I, a man who knows the world, to 
have sent you off there alone^ — ^well, well,” he mur- 
mured, “ it has taught me a lesson, also. And now,” 
said Mr. De Wolf, taking out his watch, “we’ll 
have some dinner, and after that we’ll see the 
sights.” 

The two hungry boys who had lived on camp fare 
so long greatly enjoyed the dinner that Mr. De Wolf 
ordered for them. When dinner was over they all 
repaired to the street, and walked along, the two lads 


248 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

not knowing just what was on the programme for 
the afternoon. 

“Jack,” said Mr. De Wolf suddenly, looking at 
the boy’s fine color, “ I must say that your camp life 
agreed with you. I never saw you look so well. 
Burge, also,” he added, turning to the boy, “ what 
an oarsman you’d make with that length of 
arm. 

“ And here’s just the place,” he continued with a 
smile, pointing to a photographer’s studio that they 
were approaching, “ ' Barnes & Evans, Artistic Pho- 
tography.’ I’d like to have you boys sit for a picture, 
just as you are; what do you say? Come inside,” 
urged the man, “ if they can attend to it at once we’ll 
do it.” 

The boys smilingly entered, and were pleased to 
know that they would not have to wait very long. 
When all \^as ready they stood side by side and were 
“ snapped.” They did not want any proofs sent 
them, and were to call for the finished pictures in a 
couple of days. 

Mr. De Wolf proposed a visit to one of the 
theaters, where a wonderfully clever magician was 
performing. When that was over it was time for 
supper, after which they all went down to the docks to 


A CHANGE OF SCENE 


249 


see Captain Herford, the boys eager to tell him about 
the splendid day they had enjoyed, while Mr. De Wolf 
said he would like to make arrangements with the 
Captain to have the boys stay with him for a few 
days. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


THINKING IT OVER 

That evening Mr. Ford De Wolf and Captain 
Herford were closeted together for a private talk in 
the Captain’s quarters for a long time. At least it 
seemed so to the boys, who were awaiting his 
presence, brimful of enthusiasm over the plan to spend 
a few days in his delightful company. 

When they came on deck together. Captain Her- 
ford shook hands with the boys, and told them that he 
had washed his hands of them for the present. 

You’ve got a new captain to steer you around, 
boys, and I hope he’ll give a good account of you, and 
if sech a thing should happen that you’d reach Boston 
’fore me, jest give my regard to Sister Sarah and 
Captain Tebbett, an’ tell him I’m not going to give up 
jest yet; that I’m still on the gold trail.” 

The boys laughed at the idea of going to Boston, 
as they said good-bye to Captain Herford, and started 
off. When they had taken a short walk, Mr. Ford 
advised going to bed early, and as they were all tired 
250 


THINKING IT OVER 2$ I 

enough after the day’s outing, the boys were not sorry 
to return to the hotel to sleep. 

The next day and the day after that were spent in 
a similar manner. Mr. Ford De Wolf was constantly 
planning something interesting, and the boys were 
so much taken up with everything that they never 
once thought of the dredger. 

On the fourth day, after breakfast, Mr. De Wolf 
reminded the boys of their photographs, and a little 
later they all repaired to the studio, where they found 
the pictures awaiting them, and very good pictures 
they were. 

I haven’t had a photograph since I was five years 
old,” said Jack, ‘‘ when Nan and I were taken together. 
I’d like to have her see this one,” he added with a 
smile. 

'' Send her one,” said Mr. De Wolf, ‘‘ it’s just the 
thing to do. Nannie doesn’t know what a traveler her 
brother has become.” 

I’ll do it,” cried the boy eagerly, “ she’ll be sur- 
prised, I know. I think she’s at boarding school, but 
my aunt can send it to her.” 

Jack hurried back to the hotel and wrote Nan a 
short letter, inclosing the photograph of himself and 
Burge Tebbett. When the letter was mailed. Jack 


252 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

Tenfield did not give the matter another thought. 
Such a little thing slipped out of his mind alto- 
gether. 

But it is the little things that count, and sometimes 
they bring tremendous results. Jack Tenfield and his 
companion little dreamt of what would follow the 
sending of the photograph. 

The boys attended a baseball game in the afternoon, 
and that was about all the excitement for the day. 
A heavy downpour of rain kept them indoors that 
evening, so they read the newspapers and then talked 
over recent adventures, until just before bed-time, 
when they were joined by Mr. De Wolf, who had 
been writing letters in his room all the evening. 

“ Talking over the past, are you, boys ? ” said their 
friend, seating himself before them. “ Now I know 
something even more interesting to talk about than 
that. What do you suppose it is ? 

He looked at each lad in turn, and his frank, boyish 
face wore a happy smile. “ Come, Jack,” he said, in 
his hearty manner, what is more interesting and 
more important than your past?” 

“ I don’t know, str,” laughed Jack, “ unless it may 
be my future.” 

You are right. Jack. You boys are through with 


THINKING IT OVER 253 

the past, and you want to decide, right here, to-night, 
what your future is going to be/’ 

Both boys were surprised by the sudden earnestness 
of the man’s words. “ Here’s the whole thing in a 
nut-shell,” he went on. “ Ask yourselves to-night, 
boys, if you are going to drift or are you going to 
row. You are so situated, that if you desire to do so, 
you can return to the dredger, and work your way 
back to Alaska, hunt a little, fish a little, become 
miners or sailors, or nothing in particular. In other 
words, you can go through life by drifting hither 
and thither, whichever way fortune may send 
you. 

“ On the other hand, if you want to do it, you can 
say, ‘ I’m going to make my life count. I want to be 
somebody, and one of the helps to success is a good 
education, therefore I’m going to get the very best I 
can. And the point in view is. I’m not going to drift. 
I’m going to row.’ 

“ Which are you going to do. Jack ? ” he asked 
suddenly, looking the boy in the eye. Are you, the 
son of an educated father, with all your splendid 
ability, going to drift from this place to that, living 
among rough, ignorant men, or are you going to do 
something worth while for yourself? I’m going back 


254 JACK tenfield's star 

to Boston to-morrow. I would like to have both of 
you come with me. It will mean a different life from 
the one you’ve been living. 

There will not be so much fun and adventure. 
There will be more earnest work, and a great thought 
for the future. Think it over to-night, boys, and let 
me know in the morning. Good-night,” h& said, 
rising, and quietly leaving the room. 

When Jack Tenfield and his companion were alone, 
they regarded each other without speaking for a full 
minute. 

‘‘Well, Jack, what do you say?” asked Burge, but 
Jack did not answer. He was in a brown study. Mr. 
De Wolf’s words had started a new train of thought. 
He wanted to look things squarely in the face, and 
think it over. Until he had listened to the man’s 
words, he had had every intention of going back to 
Alaska with Captain Herford. He had looked for- 
ward to the journey with the keenest pleasure. Now, 
the whole thing had suddenly become “ flat, stale, and 
unprofitable.” Visions of the future which Mr. De 
Wolf had hinted at began to arise before the boy’s 
mind. Thoughts of his school, of his classmates, 
crowded themselves before him. 

He could see all the various members of his class, 


THINKING IT OVER 255 

sitting, in their places, just as they looked in the school- 
room. 

Perhaps one of them would become a great lawyer, 
thought Jack, and he pictured, in hi*s boyish way, one 
of his classmates standing before a crowded court- 
room, pleading a case, holding the people spell-bound 
by his reason and eloquence. Another might turn out 
to be a famous doctor, or surgeon, whose name would 
mean that of a man of wonderful ability, and one 
might become a great preacher, and show men the 
right way, and comfort and save them. 

Perhaps one would make some discovery in science, 
another might design a grand building, or write a 
good book, and while they were making their lives 
count, “ what will I be doing? ” asked the boy. 

Nothing,'’ was his mind’s answer. 

You’ve started to drift, and unless you stop right 
short and take the oars, you’ll drift your life away. 
Are you going to do it ? ” 

Never, never, never,” said the best that was in 
him. I’m going to begin now.” 

Burge,” said Jack suddenly, coming out of his rev- 
ery. '' I’m going back to Boston to-morrow, finish at 
the Latin School, and work my way through college.” 

So am I,” was the answer. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


IN THE ‘‘ KNOCKABOUT ” 

A FEW weeks after our boys arrived in Boston you 
would have found them one evening in a small side- 
room of a big, dreary-looking boarding house. The 
room was so small, and the boys bumped into each 
other so often in passing about, that Jack had laugh- 
ingly called their sanctum the “ Knockabout.’’ 

Our hero, who had gone into the newspaper busi- 
ness again, had just returned after his evening papers 
had been disposed of, and started in to copy some 
law briefs for a downtown lawyer, which work had 
been obtained through the efforts of Mr. Ford De 
Wolf. 

Burge had been doing his home lessons, and was so 
deeply interested in studying some notes that he had 
not raised his eyes when Jack entered, but when a 
small clock on the mantel struck six, he put aside his 
books, and jumped to his feet. He glanced about the 
room in a puzzled way until his eye chanced to light 
upon a small oval table, which Jack was utilizing. 

256 


IN THE “ KNOCKABOUT ” 25/ 

‘‘ H-m ! said Burge to himself, “ I must do with- 
out that to-night/’ 

He spread a fresh newspaper on the floor, near the 
foot of the bed, and placed a few dishes on it, which 
he carried from a shelf on the wall. His next move 
was to light a small oil-stove that stood on an old 
wooden chair, and boil a pot of water. A few other 
details were attended to, and he gave Jack a hearty 
slap on the back. 

“ The feast is served, Lucullus.” 

Easy, easy,” said Jack, drawing back. I 
wouldn’t get a blot on this page for fifty of your 
feasts, but what do I smell that’s so good ? ” he 
cried, rising and looking about. “ Where’s the 
table?” 

Haven’t you been writing on it for the last fifteen 
minutes, you absent-minded fellow ? ” retorted Burge. 

‘‘ That’s so,” said the other with a laugh. “ Oh, I 
see, we’ll eat off the floor, by way of novelty, which 
is the spice of life, and about all the spice we can 
afford.” 

They sat themselves on the floor, Turkish fashion, 
while Jack exclaimed, Say, Burge, aren’t you get- 
ting wildly extravagant? Whence all these luxuries 
— cocoa, and butter, and cakes ? ” 


258 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

‘‘ Don’t thank me for them,” said the other, smiling, 
‘‘this afternoon, they were brought here by a young 
lady, who', I strongly suspect, spent all her pocket- 
money for months to come, by the amount of stuff she 
had with her.” 

“ Nannie ? ” asked Jack. 

“ Who else could it be? ” said Burge. “ She’s our 
guardian angel, but you’ll see her to-night. She 
couldn’t stay a minute this afternoon, but she’s 
coming to-night, and I won’t be here; just my 
luck.” 

At the rate that bread and butter and cakes were 
disposed of, and the quantity of cocoa that dis- 
appeared, it was evident that the appetites of the lads 
had not suffered by their small quarters in the 
“ Knockabout.” 

In a few minutes Burge began to clear away the 
dishes, and this done he took his hat, and started for 
the door. 

“ Well, good-bye till eleven ; don’t forget to tell 
Nannie how much we enjoyed her goodies,” was his 
parting remark, as he started for his nightly employ- 
ment, which was tending a news-stand in one of the 
large depots. When he had gone. Jack lit a small 
lamp, and resumed his copying. At the end of an 


IN THE “ KNOCKABOUT ” 259 

hour he put it away with a sigh of thanks. Then he 
opened a drawer, and brought forth some closely- 
written sheets, which he started to read carefully, 
crossing out a word here, and adding one there. In 
a few minutes he was writing away as fast as his pen 
could fly over the paper. 

He was interrupted shortly by a tap at the door, fol- 
lowed by the joyful appearance of Nannie. Not the 
Nannie of old, with the rebellious ^‘pig-tails,’’ and 
careless mien. This was a well-dressed young lady, 
whose hair was arranged neatly in one long braid, 
and tied under with a large black ribbon bow. 

Moreover, this Nannie had the prettiest color in her 
smooth, clear skin, the dark eyes were very bright, 
and the smile very winsome. Indeed, had you seen 
our little Nannie the evening she came to her brother’s 
room, you would have thought what an altogether 
attractive young lady Miss Nannie had grown to 
be. 

Oh,” cried the girl, shutting the door, and gazing 
at her feet, ‘‘ I almost stepped on that butter. What 
a careless boy you are to leave butter on the 
floor!” 

It was Burge, he forgot to put it in the ice chest,” 
said Jack, stooping to get the butter. 


26 o jack tenfield's star 

Ice chest ! exclaimed Nan, “ where do you 
keep it ? ” 

'' Here,” replied the boy, opening the window. 
Nannie picked her steps, and looked out of the window, 
where Burge had made a good-sized shelf. 

“ A very good idea,” said Nan, ‘‘ but. Jack, did you 
eat your supper off that newspaper? Now, that isn’t 
nice a bit — you can have some small tray cloths, just 
as well as not. Til get some for you.” 

“ But who will wash and iron them, when they get 
soiled. Nan? That’s an item to be considered.” 

“ Why, I will, of course,” returned the girl, ‘‘ but 
stay, no, I can’t do that, come to think of it; that is 
why I came here to-night, to tell you the news. Aunt 
Cordelia is going to sail for England next Saturday 
to see Isabelle, and I am going with her.” 

Jack whistled. Whatever induced her to take 
you? ” asked the boy. 

“ I haven’t the least idea,” answered Nan. “ I sup- 
posed I was going back to school. I know she had a 
long letter from Isabelle the other day, and I think she 
made up her mind after reading it. In the meantime 
she said she would write to the Misses Fitts — they are 
the ladies who keep the boarding school — that I should 
be absent about one month.” 


26 i 


IN THE ‘‘ KNOCKABOUT ’’ 

‘‘ Well, that’s jolly for you, Nan, going off to 
Europe — but we shall be awfully lonesome. You’ll 
certainly be missed in the ‘ Knockabout.’ ” 

“ Oh, that’s all very well for you to say. Jack Ten- 
field, but I don’t forget that when you came home after 
all those wonderful adventures out West, you were in 
Boston three whole days before you came to see me,” 
cried Nannie with a very reproachful smile. 

“Couldn’t help it. Nan, really; we were terribly 
busy getting settled here, and making arrangements for 
work, and all the rest. We didn’t have a minute to 
spare. The very first free hour I had, I ran all the way 
to Mount Vernon Street.” 

While Jack had been talking, Nannie’s eyes had 
been reading something on the sheet of closely written 
paper that lay on the small oval table. 

Jack’s eyes followed, and he turned slightly 
red. 

“ I’ll tell you. Nan, what it means,” he said, “ al- 
though I have kept it a secret, even from Burge. I’m 
writing a collection of stories that I heard on the 
dredger.” 

“ Oh, lovely! ” cried Nan, beaming with smiles, and 
going a step nearer. “ But what an odd, queer title, 
^ The Cave of Thumbs ’ I ” 


^62 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

‘‘ When you read the story, you won’t be surprised 
at the name,” said the boy, smiling. 

‘‘ I’ve already had one of those sea-stories accepted 
by a local paper. They paid me five dollars for it.” 

“Oh, Jack, isn’t that just splendid! my brother a 
real, live author, who writes for papers! Oh,” said 
Nan, brimming over with enthusiasm, “I’ve always 
wanted to write.” 

“ So have I,” said Jack, pleased to talk with Nan on 
a subject dear to his heart, and one that of late had 
filled his mind with bright dreams for the future. 
“ Do you know. Nan, some day I’m going to start a 
newspaper? ” 

“And won’t Auntie be surprised?” Nan broke in. 
“ She said you had no taste for anything.” 

“ Nannie,” said Jack seriously, “ you must promise 
not to tell her, at least not yet. I am only just be- 
ginning, and I would rather she didn’t know anything 
about it.” 

“ Of course, I won’t say anything about it, if you ob- 
ject,” returned the girl. “ But I must go now,” she 
said, glancing at the clock. 

Jack reached for his hat and walked home with his 
sister. 

When they got back to the “ Knockabout,” he sat 


IN THE KNOCKABOUT 263 

down to his stories and wrote away, till Burge's foot- 
step told him that it was after eleven o’clock. 

He put his writing aside reluctantly. He was not 
tired of the work, and he liked nothing better in the 
world than to do it. Some one has said, “ Where there 
is love, there is no labor.” 


CHAPTER XXIX 


A PRESENT 

One Sunday evening there was a tap on the door of 
the “ Knockabout ’’ and in answer to Jack’s “ Come 
in,” a large bunch of chrysanthemums made its ap- 
pearance, followed by a small young person, with a 
very broad smile. 

“ Why, Terry, this is good,” cried Jack, pushing for- 
ward the only chair, and seating himself on the bed, 
‘‘ whoever thought of seeing you here? ” 

“ I never knowed, I mean knewed, you was in Boston 
till last week. Mr. De Wolf told me about it and he 
gimme, no, gev me, your address, so de first chanct I 
could leave the firm, I came.” 

Terry paused for several seconds, eyeing Jack curi- 
ously, “ D’yer notice anything new or strange about 
me ? ” he inquired at last, with a quizzical look on his 
small face. 

'' Well, nothing in particular,” replied Jack, ‘‘ you 
are looking remarkably well, and, let me see — you seem 
to be more particular about choosing your words.” 

264 


A PRESENT 265 

Daf s it, youVe hit it,” replied the smiling Terry. 

Fm having hencounters wid de langwidge.” 

Jack laughed aloud at Terry’s quaint face as he made 
the remark. 

‘‘ Yer see, it happened in this way,” resumed Terry, 
with a grin. De best friend I have on dis earth is Mr. 
Ford De Wolf. Dere’s no comers on dat gentleman, he’s 
the same all ’round — well, he says to me, not long ago, 
says he : ‘Terry, I hear very good accounts of you from 
your employer, and I’m very much pleased. Now, I tell 
you what you must do,’ says he. ‘ You must go to night- 
school, Terry,’ says he, ‘ learn to write a good, plain 
hand ; learn to read and spell and figure correctly. Read 
good books,’ says he, ‘ but, above all, stop using slang 
— stop it at once. Take notice,’ says he, ‘ how other 
people talk, and speak as well as you possibly can.’ He 
said lots more, and he gave me a list of books to read. 
I’ve got a library card, and, oh, say. Jack, I’m a-readin’ 
about de queerest bloke, an’ his name was Daniel 
Quilp ; it’s great. Well, I must tell yer about de other. 
I began to git on to me job — no, I don’t mean dat — 
dat’s bad. I mean dat I began to watch and listen to 
the folks what came into the store.” 

“ Terry, don’t say, ‘ folks what came ’ ; say ‘ folks 
who came.’ ” 


266 


JACK TENFIELD^'S STAR 


Dat’s it — dat’s it ! said the little fellow quickly ; 
every time I say it wrong you tell me/’ 

Very well,” said Jack, “ if you make a bad mistake 
and I know it. I’ll correct it if I can, when you’ve fin- 
ished your story; and, by the way, Terry, say ‘ that,’ 
not ‘ dat,’ and ‘ this,’ not ‘ dis.’ ” 

‘‘ All right,” replied the lad, I’ll try, and now I’ll 
tell you how I came near getting into trouble. 

There was an old man came into the store one 
day, and he was very busy looking over some rare 
orchids. Bimeby I see him looking on de floor, and all 
around, and he said to me : ‘ Boy, have you any idea 
where I left my pot money? ’ Well, Jack, dere was a 
squelcher. ‘ No, sir,’ says I, wondering in me mind 
that such a tony old gent would talk about pot money, 
and carry it around like dat — that. 

‘ Did you win it ? ’ says I, looking all round de 
shelves and on de floor. 

“‘No, boy,’ says he, ‘a lady gave it to me; I 
wouldn’t like to lose it.’ 

“ Well, dis was a staggerer. A lady gave him his 
pot money — de old gambler ! But he wasn’t goin’ ter 
fool me like dat. 

“ ‘ How much was in de pot? ’ says I, looking like 
a innercent kid. 


A PRESENT 267 

“ ‘ I don’t understand,’ says the old gentleman. ‘ Do 
you mean the amount of coin in my pot money ? ’ 

‘‘ Wid dat speech I got shaky in de ribs, an’ I laffed. 
‘ I’m not quite shuah,’ he went on, ' a few bills and 
some small change.’ 

Well, Jack, just then my eye caught a glimpse of a 
big black pocketbook layin’ in a comer, an’ I left the 
man and ran with it to the cashier. 

“ The old gent was lookin’ all the time, an’ he never 
raised his eyes ; but when I came back he said he’d call 
in again. 

‘‘ On his way out, I see him talking to the boss, and 
pretty soon he called me up. 

'' De boss asked me if I had seen a black pocketbook 
anywhere. 

'' ‘ Sure,’ says I. ' I gave it to the cashier.’ 

''At this the old man looked very much surprised. 
' Why, my good boy,’ says he, ' you told me you had 
not seen it.’ 

" ' Pardon me, sir,’ says I, ' you was askin’ me all de 
time about your pot money. How did I know dat the 
pot money was in the black pocketbook ? ’ 

" Then the boss he laffed, and the old gentleman he 
laffed, and got his pocketbook and went out. Then they 
all told me what ' port monnaie ’ meant — a pocketbook. 


268 JACK TEN FIELDS'S STAR 

Dat was one tussle I had wid de langwidge; but Fm 
improvin’/’ 

‘'That’s good, Terry, and I’m real glad you are 
going to night-school. Do you like it ? ” 

“ Yes, I like it fine. Last night de teacher told us 
about a camel, and read about him outer a book. Say, 
Jack, isn’t he a tank, dat camel? He drinks so much 
and den keeps it till he gets dry ; no wonder he’s hump- 
backed ! ” 

At this point the door opened, and Burge burst into 
the room, waving a letter. 

“ It’s for you. Jack. You should have had it yes- 
terday. It was sent care of Mr. De Wolf.” 

Burge had not seen Terry, who was partly concealed 
by the huge bunch of flowers. 

Jack introduced them, and Burge, who had heard 
much of the former little bootblack, regarded him with 
interest. 

“ If you’ll pardon me,” said Jack, “ I’ll just see what 
my letter is all about. The postmark is San Francisco. 
I wonder who is writing to me.” 

Jack opened the letter, and as he did, a bill fell upon 
the floor. Burge picked it up and gave a short whistle. 
“ One hundred dollars ! Why, Jack,” he cried, “ who 
sent it? ” 


A PRESENT 269 

‘‘ What is this, anyway — one hundred dollars for 
me? cried Jack. 

“ Read the letter,'^ said Burge, growing excited ; 
“ that will explain,’" while Terry’s round eyes looked 
from one to the other in wonder. 

‘‘ There isn’t any letter, not a word. Hold on, yes 
there is,” said the boy, turning to the last page of the 
sheet of paper, on which the following was written, in 
a large, firm hand : 

‘‘ This little present may be useful to Jack Tenfield, 
from one who wishes him success.” 

That was all. There was not the slightest clew to 
the generous writer. The boys were so thoroughly sur- 
prised that they could not speak, but stood gazing at the 
written words, and turning it over, as if there must be 
something more. 

“ Whoever could have sent this to me, do you sup- 
pose ? ” asked Jack, looking at Burge, and even at 
Terry, for an explanation. 

“ You kin search me,” said Terry. 

Burge was still pondering over the writing. 

They exhausted every possible theory as to the 
sender, and finally gave it up as a mystery that might 
be solved at some future time. 


270 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


“ Look here, friends,’’ said Terry, who had been 
very quiet, while the two boys let their imaginations 
run riot in regard to the sender. 

'' Seems to me, if I was you, de thought wouldn’t 
bother me now about who sent dat money. De puzzle 
to me ’d be ter find out if it was de real article, or if 
some one was trying to shove de ‘ queer.’ ” 

‘‘ What do you mean? ” asked Jack quickly, coun- 
terfeit? ” 

“ Sure,” nodded Terry. 

‘‘I never thought of that,” said Jack; ‘'but, of 
course it’s genuine. Look at the sentiment. It’s from 
somebody who knows me, and really wants me to 
use it.” 

“ Dat’s no proof,” said Terry. “ De people of dis 
world are not giving away hundred-dollar bills as if dey 
was cigar labels. I tell you, Jack, you want to find out 
about dat for sure.” 

“ There may be some truth in what Terry says,” 
ventured Burge. 

“ I feel confident that it is genuine,” replied Jack, 
“ but I’ll find out for certain to ease your minds about 
it. Let me see. I’ll take it downstairs and ask Mr. 
McAleer.” 

“Hold on, dere!” shouted Terry, jumping up and 


A PRESENT 271 

boldly placing his small body before the door. Is he 
de herrin’ what runs dis maze ? 

'‘Of course/’ said Jack; "he owns this boarding 
house.” 

" Den, not on your natural, will you show him a hun- 
dred-dollar bill an’ ask him if it’s genewine,” said 
Terry. " W’y, Jack,” he went on, " youse awful smart 
’bout a good many t’ings, but youse as innercent as a 
mornin’ glory ’bout others. W’y, dat McAleer would 
pinch it, good or bad, sure as you are seein’ me.” 

" Well, how shall I find out, then? ” asked Jack. 

" Dere’s just one man I’d trust wid dat bill over 
night in Bosting,” said Terry earnestly. 

He waited, to impress his words upon the boys, who 
asked in one breath, " Who? ” 

" Mr. Ford De Wolf,” said Terry, with decision. 

" You are right, Terry,” answered Jack. " I’ll go 
to him at once.” 


CHAPTER XXX 


A LETTER 

The money was genuine, so Mr. Ford De Wolf 
attested. He was as much surprised at the gift as the 
boys themselves. 

When they had talked the matter over for the fif- 
tieth time, Jack decided to put the money in the bank. 

‘‘We are getting along finely, our expenses are few, 
and we do not intend to increase them,’’ said Jack, 
“ but next year that money will come in very well.” 

One night not long after, the boys had hurried sup- 
per, and when Burge had started for his work. Jack sat 
down to study his home lessons. When satisfied that 
he was perfect for the next day, he put away his books 
and brought out his stories. The “ Cave of Thumbs ” 
was finished, and he was now busy on a tale told by the 
mate, called “ Devil Water.” The gist of the story was 
that a party of sailors who had been wrecked and suf- 
fered hunger and thirst for days, had reached an un- 
inhabited island, where vegetation was luxurious, and 
food and drink were found in abundance. 


272 


A LETTER 


273 


The story related that a certain huge plant that the 
men found there bore a large, cup-shaped flower, filled 
with a colorless liquid, delicious and refreshing to the 
taste, but which, after it had been drunk, made men 
mad, and caused them to act in a most inhuman man- 
ner. 

Jack was still writing away on the tale when Burge 
returned, and, after waiting several minutes, told his 
busy companion that he was so very tired he could 
sleep standing. 

The next morning Jack had a letter from Nannie, 
which he read aloud to Burge, while the latter was 
trying to thread a needle with a very long thread, pre- 
paratory to sewing on a button. 

‘‘ Dear Jack,” ran the letter. I wish you were here 
to enjoy all the good times I have had since I came to 
England. In the first place, I must inform you of the 
fact that you are an uncle to the dearest, sweetest mite 
of a baby girl in the world, who is going to be called 
* Cordelia.’ So you are really, truly Uncle Jack. 
Doesn’t that make you throw out your chest? Well, 
if it does not, here is a piece of news that should — at 
least Sister Isabelle thinks so. 

On her father’s side baby Cordelia can trace her 
ancestors back to the time of Elizabeth. Isabelle 
thought it was necessary to impress this fact on me, 


274 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

because I am a mere American ; but I reminded baby, 
right before her ma and pa, that she could also trace 
some of her ancestors to the glorious times of George 
Washington, when they were more useful than orna- 
mental. 

“There are some beautiful old places over here, and 
I have just reveled in long walks to nooks and corners 
famous in history. 

“ Among the few people I have met is a Mrs. Or- 
miston, Isabelle’s neighbor. She lives quite alone in a 
fine, old house with a beautiful garden to interest her. 
But she is not interested in it, or in anything else in the 
world that I can see, although she is very sweet and 
lovable. 

“ Isabelle told me that this lady had some great 
sorrow in her early life, from which she has never 
quite recovered. 

“ I am coming home next week, alone, as Aunt Cor- 
delia is going to spend a few months with her little 
namesake, of whom she seems to be very fond. She 
has written to Mrs. McNaughton, and I will start at 
once for school, but may get a chance to run in and 
see you boys. 

“ I hope you don’t eat your meals off the floor. If 
you do, please remove the butter before I call, as I 
might slip with disastrous consequences. Tell Burge 
I am quite a sailor, and only wanted to die once, com- 
ing over. I brought your Western picture and it called 
forth a good bit of admiration; but there, I won’t tell 


A LETTER 2/5 

you, because all boys are conceited, when they grow 
up, and you are ‘ growing up ’ very fast. 

I suppose I ought to end this letter with some good, 
sisterly advice. Well, then. Jack, keep up your cour- 
age, and if things go wrong look on the bright 
side. 

Here's for auld lang syne : 

“ ‘ The bright side, the bright side, 

My brother, is always the right side.’ 

Nannie.” 

That night Jack worked harder than ever writing 
away on his stories. Having completed his home les- 
sons in the study hour at school he had been looking 
forward to a long evening of uninterrupted writing. 

He had almost completed the collection of yarns 
that he had heard, and which had impressed him very 
much ; in fact, he was on the last one, a mysterious tale 
told by a wizened little sailor named Hinchpin. 

Jack was going to call this story, “ Hinchpin's 
Ghost,” but as Hinchpin was alive and well, our hero 
thought it might give a wrong impression, as the little 
sailor was not the haunted person; so in his boyish 
mind he decided to call it The Ghost of the David 
Shallcross” that being the name of the haunted ship, 
on which the wizened little sailor had seen with his own 


276 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


eyes the floating form of a woman in white, with an 
awful fear in her face. 

The subsequent wreck of the ill-fated ship, with 
the loss of all on board but two of the crew, their thrill- 
ing adventures and hairbreadth escape, made quite 
a remarkable tale, and was a fitting end — a, sort of 
climax to all the previous stories. 

Jack decided to call the collection, Tales of the 
Sea,'’ and that night, before he went to bed, he got 
his manuscript all ready to send to a certain publisher 
the following day. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


BROTHER AND SISTER 

The months had grown into bleak November, and 
all was well in the “ Knockabout.’’ It was not quite 
as comfortable, perhaps, as it had been, especially on 
a wet night, and it was both cold and wet one evening 
in the early part of the month, when Jack returned 
from his work soaked to the skin. 

The next morning he had a bad cold, and felt quite 
unlike himself. He tried to shake it off,” but he came 
home from school a few days after with a pain in his 
head, and a tight feeling ” in his chest. 

The following morning Jack was a very sick boy, 
and Burge stayed at home to take care of him. Burge, 
who had never been ill in his life, knew very little 
about sickness, but when he felt Jack’s head hot and 
feverish, he grew alarmed, and called in a doctor. 

Burge learned from the medical man that Jack had 
a bad attack of pneumonia. As the sick boy turned 
and tossed on his bed, he frequently called for Nannie, 
and, at the doctor’s suggestion, Burge decided to write 
277 


2/8 JACK TENFIELD's STAR 

to Nan, and acquaint her with the fact of her brother's 
illness. 

When Jack had dozed olf to a short sleep, Burge 
sat down to write his first letter to a young lady. If 
it had been any other girl in the world but Nannie 
Tenfield, Burge would have written a short note at 
random, and not given the matter very much thought. 
As it was, he carefully dated his letter, and then re- 
volved in his mind how he should begin. 

As he could think of but one way he hastily wrote. 

Dear Nannie,” and stopped short. How queer it 
looked! thought the boy. He held the paper at arm’s 
length, and read again “ Dear Nannie.” Then he 
held it at different angles to see just how “ Dear 
Nannie ” looked from every point of view. No,” 
thought Burge, “ that will never do — it sounds silly.” 
At the mere thought of it he blushed, tore up the sheet 
of paper, and took a fresh one. This, also, was care- 
fully dated and, after various invisible scribbles, “ Dear 
Friend Nannie,” was written, and viewed from various 
angles. 

“ She’d make fun of that,” said Burge to himself. 
He couldn’t stand appearing ridiculous to a girl, and 
least of all to Nannie, so that also was torn in halves, 
and Burge took another sheet of paper. 


BROTHER AND SISTER 


279 


Before he began to write the third time, he did a 
little thinking aloud to this effect, Fm not going to 
write ‘ Dear Miss Tenfield,' even if she is becoming 
quite a young lady. I never call her anything but 
Nannie, so why shouldn’t I write ‘ Dear Nannie ’ ? 
Oh, pshaw ! you wouldn’t call her ‘ Dear Nannie ’ — 
let’s see how ^ Friend Nannie ’ looks. Why wouldn’t 
that be all right, she really is a friend ? ” 

After this soliloquy, Burge took a fresh sheet of 
paper, and wrote boldly: 

‘‘ Friend Nannie : I am sorry to write you ” 

Burge stopped again. Well, that’s a funny thing 
to say to her,” mused the critic. “ You’re glad to write 
to her, you know you are. Oh, tear it up, and begin 
all over again.” 

After a few more attempts the following was 
written : 

Friend Nannie : Jack is very sick, and calls for 
you a great deal. The doctor thought it would be a 
good thing for him if you could come to see him. 

“ Your friend, 

‘‘ Burge Tebbett.” 

Having read this several times, Burge decided that 
it was correct,” and sent it on its way. 


28 o 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


In a few days Nannie appeared, and constituted her- 
self at once as head nurse. Burge had to move to 
other quarters and, small as the “ Knockabout was, 
the boarding mistress was called upon to furnish it 
with a few extra pieces of furniture. 

The doctor called every day for a time, but after the 
fever subsided he dropped in only occasionally, praised 
Nannie for her excellent care, and encouraged his 
patient in every possible way. 

Terry was an almost daily visitor, and kept the little 
room supplied with flowers. 

One evening when the sick boy was well on the road 
to recovery, and Nan had been reading to him, he sud- 
denly sat up in bed, a most dejected expression on his 
pale face. 

‘‘What is it. Jack?'' asked the girl, turning the 
book in her lap. 

“ Nothing, Nan — only I was just thinking what a 
disappointing thing this sickness has been to me. I 
don't mind being absent from school so much, because 
by extra work I can make that all up; but it has put 
me back in ever so many ways, and made a big hole in 
my savings for next year." 

“ Never mind that. Jack. You will have enough, 
and you must not feel so bad about this sickness. You 


BROTHER AND SISTER 


28 


might have been a great deal worse, laid up for months, 
perhaps, and suppose you had to go into a hospital. 
You wouldn’t like that, would you ? ” 

Jack shook his head. “ No, indeed ! it has been a 
little like home having you here.” 

“Did Terry bring those?” asked the boy sud- 
denly, letting his eye fall on a beautiful bunch of 
pinks. 

“ No, Mr. De Wolf brought them this morning, 
while you were sleeping. He’s been to New York for 
nearly three weeks, and did not know of your illness, 
till Terry told him last night. He had quite a talk 
with the doctor this morning about moving you out 
of this house, but the doctor said you were getting on 
so well that he would not advise it just now.” 

Jack was silent for some minutes after Nan had 
spoken. He sat there, wide awake, in deep thought. 

“ Say, Nan, open that little drawer and under my 
Latin book you’ll see a letter ; read it, please.” 

Nannie obeyed, and in opening the letter saw that 
it bore the name and address of a publisher in another 
city. 

“ Mr. Jack Tenfield. 

“ Dear Sir: We have received your MS. entitled 
' Tales of the Sea,’ and regret to say that, while 


282 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


they have a great deal of merit, there is a certain crude- 
ness in the manner of telling that is not desirable for 
our paper. 

“If you could polish these stories so that they would 
sound less boyish, we might consider them. It has 
occurred to us that you might be able to write a boy^s 
story. If you do so, we shall be pleased to see the 
book.’^ 

“ There, Nan, is the result of all my labor, and the 
end of my glorious dreams of future literary work. 
Just think of the good, long hours I wasted over that 
stuff; burning. the midnight oil until every bone was 
cramped and aching. Just pass that bundle over here. 
Nan — ^tied with string — the sooner that trash is con- 
signed to the waste-basket the better.’^ 

“ You are not going to destroy those stories ! ” de- 
clared Nan, holding the package of returned MS. in 
her hand. 

“ Yes, I am. Nan. What is the use of keeping 
them?’' 

“ Why, Jack Tenfield, that letter from the publishers 
is splendidly encouraging. They don’t return your 
MS. with thanks not a bit of it. If you’ll polish them 
up, they will take them, I know; and more than all, 
they think you have the talent to write a boy’s book. 


BROTHER AND SISTER 


283 


Of course, they don’t know that you are only a boy 
yourself, although they discovered that your language 
was boyish in parts. I tell you. Jack, it’s very flatter- 
ing, and you can do it, too.” 

Jack smiled doubtfully, but his face brightened at 
Nan’s words. 

I wish I could write a boy’s story,” he said, but I 
don’t know enough yet, perhaps I may sometime, I 
shan’t give up.” 

Yes, you could do it now. Jack. Oh, Jack,” and 
Nan, in her excitement, began to wave the MS. over 
her head. I have an idea! Write your own story, 

just what happened to yourself ” 

'' But, Nan, that wouldn’t be interesting. There 
really isn’t much to tell.” 

Yes, there is ; yes, there is I ” cried Nan with enthu- 
siasm, “ It isn’t every boy who is out of school over 
a year ; and in that time goes to another city, away off, 
has the adventures that you have had on a big dredger, 
and all that sort of thing. Write it. Jack; begin it 
to-night, and I’ll help you, and those stories that you 
really heard can be brought into your story, when you 
describe the life on the dredger.” 

‘'Yes, that’s so. Nan,” said Jack, growing inter- 
ested. 


284 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


“ And ril help/' said the girl for the second time. 
‘‘ Do you know, Jack, Fm pretty fair in composition. 
It's my best study in school, and, oh, it will be such 
fun ! You can dictate it all to me. Instead of reading 
aloud to you, we'll do that. And you must tell all 
about Burge in your story. Burge is such a nice boy ! 
and. Jack, do you know that there is an air about him — 
he looks sort of, well, er — distinguished; don't you 
think so ? " 

Oh, boys don't think as much about looks as you 
girls do," was the answer. “ Burge is a pretty fair- 
looking fellow, though," admitted Jack. 

“Burge Tebbett!" exclaimed Nan. “Why, I 
should say he's " 

“ Present, may he come in? " asked the object of the 
discussion, looking into the room after a knock. 

Nan wondered how much of the conversation he had 
heard. 

“ I've had a letter from home," said Burge. 
“ Mother wants us to spend the Thanksgiving holi- 
days with her, and we must all go, too," he added. 
“ She won't take any excuse." Burge thereupon read 
the letter aloud. 

“If father hadn't been laid up with rheumatism, 
she would have been up here long ago.” 


BROTHER AND SISTER 285 

I’d like to go very much/' said Nan, “ but I hardly 
think Jack will be strong enough to go so far.” 

Oh, we’ll manage in some way,” said Burge hope- 
fully. 

At this point there was a loud knock at the door, 
and when Burge opened it a boy placed a telegram in 
his hand. 

Burge hastily read the following: 

“ Come home at once. Important news. 

‘‘John Tebbett.” 

Burge passed the telegram to Jack, greatly surprised 
at its contents. 

“ I wouldn’t waste a minute, if I were you,” said 
Jack, “ it’s something pretty sudden, whatever it is. 
He doesn’t mention anything out of the ordinary in 
his letter.” 

“That’s- so,” said Burge. “Well, I’m off, and 
good-bye ; and I’ll see you Thanksgiving if not before.” 

When he had gone, Nannie and Jack talked it over 
for a while, until the boy fell asleep. 

For the next few days Nan was busy writing away 
from Jack’s dictation. Her encouragement and en- 
thusiasm had infected the boy to such an extent that 
he was greatly interested in the telling of his own 


286 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


Story, which was progressing very well, indeed, as also 
was the patient, who was now able to be up. 

One morning, in the wee sma’ hours while Jack was 
fast asleep, Nannie wrote several chapters on her own 
responsibility, and then threw herself on the lounge, 
too tired to go to her own room to bed. 

When she looked out of the window a few hours 
later, there was a thin covering of snow on the roofs 
of the houses and in the narrow yards below. 

'' It looks like winter,’’ thought Nan with a shiver, 
“ and it’s almost Thanksgiving time.” 

She turned and glanced toward the bed where her 
brother was still sleeping. Poor Jack ! how white he 
looks ; I hope he’ll be strong again soon.” 

Her eyes wandered over the shabby little room, that 
was more chilly and comfortless in the early hours 
than at any other time. 

How narrow and cheerless it all seemed! All at 
once the picture of the old yellow mansion came before 
her eyes, the great rooms with the cheerful open fires, 
and the winter sun streaming through the windows. 

Nan’s eyes sought the snow-covered roofs again, and 
she gazed in a revery, while a flood of happy memories 
surged through her mind. How happy it had been, 
when her father’s face brightened the merry holiday 


BROTHER AND SISTER 287 

time! And now he had passed away! and the old 
house was theirs no longer; and Isabelle was married 
and far away, and had no interest in them. Aunt Cor- 
delia's gloomy mansion was shut up and only she and 
Jack were left together. 

Nannie's lips trembled, and the tears began to trickle 
down her cheeks. Suddenly she sank to her knees, 
and buried her face in both hands, overcome by a 
sudden realization of the loneliness and sadness of it all. 
For a while Nan's tears fell fast, then she felt better, 
her thoughts were calmer, and she prayed softly. 

‘‘ O Heavenly Father," said Nan. “ Spare us to 
each other. Jack and me. Protect us and guide our 
footsteps in the right path, and O my Father, let me 
be a help and comfort to him always." 

A stir in the bed made Nan jump to her feet, with 
an assumed air of busying herself about the room. 

In a very short time Nan was serving toast and tea 
and soft-boiled eggs to Jack, and had such a bright 
face and cheery voice that no one would ever have 
detected the heartache back of it all. 

There's exactly four inches of sunshine comes 
into this room," said Nan. “ I've really measured it, 
but this morning it seems almost three times as much." 

She pointed to a large vase, filled with yellow 


288 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


chrysanthemums, placed on the table beside the bit of 
sunshine. The yellow of the flowers seemed like a 
continuation of it, thanks to Nan's clever arrangement, 
and made a wonderfully bright spot in the cheerless 
little room. 

Later in the morning the doctor called for the last 
time, and told Jack he might go out if the day was 
fair, for a short walk. 

Our hero was delighted at the prospect and, just 
before dinner, he and Nan walked up and down the 
street. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


THANKSGIVING 

Thanksgiving dawn promised a day of sunshine, 
over a cold, crisp atmosphere. A light fall of snow 
the night before gave a wintry touch to everything. 

As Nannie washed up the few dishes she had used 
for breakfast, she thought it was going to be even more 
dreary than she had anticipated. 

She glanced at Jack, who was sitting at the window, 
looking over one of his school books. 

‘‘ IPs strange we haven’t heard from Burge since he 
went home, isn’t it ? ” asked the boy suddenly. 

“ Yes,” replied Nan, ‘‘ we shall be quite alone for 
our Thanksgiving dinner, but I’ve thought of the nicest 
thing to do. Jack! We’ll get all ready, take a little 
walk in the sunshine, and then go into a big hotel and 
have a good dinner. I’m real hungry. What do you 
think of my plan ? ” 

Isn’t it terribly expensive at those hotels ? ” ven- 
tured Jack. “ How much do you suppose it would 
cost?” 


290 


JACK TENFIELD's STAR 


Won’t cost you a cent ; this is my invitation. I 
invite you to dinner, Jack, and you can’t refuse. You 
might if I had cooked it myself,” added Nan, with a 
laugh. 

Jack smiled. Say, Nan, do you remember the 
chickens you roasted in the old house that time Nora 
was away, and we were expecting Mrs. McNaugh- 
ton?” 

Will I ever forget them?” laughed Nan. ‘‘And 
the cake! Oh, Jack, that terrible cake, that was so 
wonderfully made I Do you remember all the eggs I 
put in it?” Nan went on, “and the sugar? There 
was enough sugar in it to sink a tub.” 

“ Yes,” laughed the boy, “ and cleaning out those 
chickens — you thought there were snakes in them,” 
and Jack began to laugh heartily at the recollection, 
and was joined by Nan. 

“ Oh, Jack, the yellow soap 1 will you ever forget 
the yellow soap, to grease the pans ? ” 

In the midst of the laughing, there came a knock at 
the door, followed by the smiling face of Mr. Ford De 
Wolf. 

“ Well, I’m glad to hear such good news as healthy 
laughter,” said the man, beaming on the boy and girl, 
and walking to the window in his brisk, cheery way. 


THANKSGIVING 


291 


‘‘ It is rather early to make a call,” he went on, tak- 
ing out his watch, “ but the fact is, we are all due at 
Horn Point to-day, just as quickly as we can get there, 
and if we hurry we can get a train in twenty minutes ; 
so if you’ll put on your wraps we’ll start at once.” 

'' Oh, goody ! ” cried Nan, putting the last cup away, 
and making a dive for her hat and coat, how nice to 
go there to-day ! ” 

When they reached the street they found Mr. De 
Wolf’s carriage awaiting them. They entered, and 
were soon rattling over the city pavements on their 
way to the train that was to take them in a few hours 
to quite a different scene. 

Nan was so happy she was bubbling over with mer- 
riment. To think that they would not have to spend 
Thanksgiving in that poky little room, all alone, with 
never a kindly face to meet them ! Instead, Jack would 
meet Burge, and feel ever so much better, and have a 
nice, wholesome dinner! Oh, it was good! and there 
were many things to make one happy and thankful ! 

When the first flush of the excitement had worn off, 
Nan wondered if Mr. De Wolf was coming all the 
way. He was an old friend of Captain Tebbett’s, but 
she was rather surprised that he was going to spend 
his Thanksgiving there. However, as he said nothing 


292 JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 

about the matter, Nannie did not ask any questions. 
She listened to his pleasant voice, telling Jack all sorts 
of good news. Nan chattered away until she fell at 
last into a sort of revery that often falls upon one in 
a railway journey. 

The houses and large buildings were fast disappear- 
ing, as they steamed along in the train. By and by, 
bare fields and straggling trees met the eye on all sides. 

A large white house on the top of a hill caught 
Nan’s eye as they whizzed along. She wondered if 
the people who lived in it were preparing for a merry 
Thanksgiving dinner. 

One of her school friends had described her home 
in just such a house. This caused a vision of the school 
to come before her; and her classmates, with their 
different peculiarities, appeared to her mind’s eye. She 
could not think of Tessie without picturing something 
edible hidden away somewhere on that young gour- 
mand’s person. 

Glancing suddenly at Jack, who had become very 
quiet, she saw that his eyes were closed, and, knowing 
his weak condition, she wondered anxiously if the 
journey would be too much for him. Mr. De Wolf 
seemed to read her thoughts. He assured her that Jack 
was a little tired, and that was all. 


THANKSGIVING 


293 


They were now passing miles of woodland on one 
side, and immense tracts of marsh-land, with here and 
there a glimpse of the sea, on the other. 

After another hour’s ride they had a continuous 
sight of the ocean, and Nan knew they were not very 
far from Horn Point. 

She lapsed into silence again, and was aroused from 
her revery by the usual stir that is made by the pas- 
sengers about to alight from a train. Glancing out of 
the window, Nannie saw the well-remembered depot, 
a bleak little barn-like structure as gray and wintry- 
looking as the sea behind it. 

A carriage was waiting, and the little party were 
soon driving through the long village road to the Point. 

When Nannie opened Mrs. Tebbett’s front door, 
that led directly into the large kitchen, she saw a 
buxom-looking woman bending over the stove. As 
Mrs. Tebbett was spare and tall. Nan wondered who 
the stranger could be. 

‘‘ Stranger, indeed ! ” said Nan, a second later. The 
idea of not knowing Nora; but who ever thought of 
seeing you here ? ” 

“ Who, indeed? ” echoed Jack. 

'‘An’ didn’t Mr. De Wolf tell yer?” said Nora, 
showing all her fine teeth. 


294 JACK tenfield's star 

“No; did he know you were here?” asked Nan, 
surprised. 

“ Well, no one knew better,” said Nora, smiling. 
“ My brother got married again, that I’d been keeping 
house for, an’ I got out an’ I’ve been working for Mr. 
De Wolf and Mr. Samuel for nigh a month now, an’ 
Mr. Samuel, he’s gone to Europe, and Mr. Ford sent 
me down here two days ago, to help Mrs. Tebbett over 
Thanksgiving, and sure it’s like old times entirely, 
to be at Horn Point wid you all.” 

“And where is everybody?” asked Nan, feeling 
wonderfully at home with Nora’s loving, smiling face 
before her. 

“ They’re all present or accounted for,” said some 
one, opening the door. 

“Terry!” exclaimed Jack and Nannie in one 
voice, as the boy appeared with an armful of 
wood. 

Terry made a bow low enough to deposit his wood 
on the floor, just as the sitting room door opened, and 
Burge stood on the threshold, and beckoned to Jack 
and Nan to come in. 

When Nannie stepped into the room she thought 
she must be dreaming, for there, sitting on one of the 
hard, straight-backed chairs, was the sweet-faced little 


THANKSGIVING 295 

Englishwoman, Mrs. Ormiston. For a second Nan 
could not see any one else in the room. 

It is about time I explained,” said Burge, taking 
Mrs. Ormiston’s hand, who arose, and stood smiling 
beside the stalwart youth. 

“ This lady is my mother,” he said, looking at Nan 
and Jack. You remember that picture. Jack, we had 
taken out in Seattle? Well, Nannie took it to England 
to show your sister, Isabelle; and, luckily for me, she 
left it behind her when she sailed for America. 

One day, shortly after, when Mrs. Ormiston was 
visiting your sister, she saw it, and was surprised by 
the resemblance that I bore to my father. She showed 
Isabelle one of his photographs, and your sister 
thought the resemblance remarkable. Well, to make a 
short story, your sister remembered the story of my life 
at Horn Point ; how I was saved from a wrecked ship, 
etc., and when she told Mrs. Ormiston — I mean, 
mother,” corrected Burge, smiling, — “ a correspon- 
dence was immediately begun with Captain Tebbett. 
He told her about the clothes I wore that were saved, 
and bore the initials, ‘A. O.’ Mother came over at 
once, and found me — well, I guess that's all, except I 
went up a few days ago to see Mr. De Wolf, and he 
planned this little surprise for to-day.” 


296 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


“ Why, it sounds just like a story in a book,’' said 
Nan with delight. 

Jack was silent for a minute, then he shook Burge’s 
hand. 

“ I congratulate you,” he said, smiling, you don’t 
know how lucky you are; some poor fellows haven’t 
one mother on this earth, but you have two.” 

This remark made the eyes of the little English- 
woman look suspiciously moist, but a broad smile broke 
over the rigid features of Mrs. Tebbett. 

“ The hardest thing of all ’ll be to call him Arthur,” 
said the Captain’s wife. “ I can’t git used to it no 
way — Arthur Ormiston — ^an’ all the time I’ll want to 
say Burge Tebbett.” 

“ And you just say it, mother,” returned Burge, 
addressing the Captain’s wife. “ I’ll always be Burge 
Tebbett to you and father. I’ve thought it all over,” 
he continued, “and my name is going to be Arthur 
Burge Tebbett Ormiston. It’s a long name. I’ll admit, 
but it’s a good one.” 

The old Captain, who had thus far maintained a dis- 
creet silence, glanced approvingly at the boys. 

“ Well, Burge, there’s this much about it. You fit 
a high-sounding name better than some folks I’ve met. 
There was Steve Lea. He was a awful little rooster. 


THANKSGIVING 


297 


but consequential as a strutting turkey. Steve's uncle, 
John Babbitt, up an’ died one day, an’ left Steve a 
tidy fortin’ on condition that he’d take his name, along 
with the money. 

Now, Steve took his uncle’s name, of course, but 
there was no law against stickin’ in his own, too, and 
Steve was proud of it, jest because it belonged to him. 
So he called himself Stephen Lea John Babbitt, but 
they guyed him ’bout makin’ himself out two men, 
when he warn’t big enough for one. 

After twisting it every which way, he finally began 
to sign himself S. L. John Babbitt, an’ that finished 
him, ’cause some wag asked if S. L. stood for Small 
Loss, and it stuck f’rever.” 

This story was followed by another, and the Cap- 
tain’s remarks caused a general laugh. 

By and by, while Nannie began to ask Mrs. Ormis- 
ton ever so many questions about baby Cordelia, and 
the less important members of the same family. Jack 
and Burge left the house together for a walk to the end 
of the Captain’s float. 

As they sauntered along, they looked across at the 
shanty on Sun Island, where they had had their first 
taste of camping out. It did not look quite so inviting 
in the sharp November air as it did in the summer 


298 


JACK TEN field's STAR 


days, but still there was a tight, weather-proof look 
about it, that was, on the whole, very satisfac- 
tory. 

“ Well, Jack,” said his companion, '' I suppose you 
are thinking what change all this is going to make in 
our plans.” 

Yes,” returned Jack, ‘‘ I suppose you won't have 
any further use for the ‘ Knockabout.' ” 

“ That is true,” was the answer, “ and you won't 
either.” 

Jack glanced quickly at his companion, who went 
on, I am going to finish my education as I have 
begun, but there will be no need to work my way 
through college, because we are rich. 

Mother is going to take a house in Boston, and we 
will live with her. It will mean home for us. Jack/' 
said Burge, slapping his companion gently on the back, 
“ and the ‘ Knockabout ' a thing^of the past.” 

“ That is very generous of you, Burge, and I appre- 
ciate it, but you must not forget that I am not rich, and 
I've got to work my way.” 

'' Well, we won't talk about that, now,” said Burge 
hastily, because, in the first place, you are not strong 
enough to do anything at present, and all I want to say 
is, you must make your home with us ; that, at least. 


THANKSGIVING 299 

you cannot refuse, and mother and I have talked over 
plans for the future, and are counting on that.” 

“ It seems too good to be true,” replied Jack. Yes, 
indeed! I shall be more than happy to accept such a 
great kindness.” 

But I haven’t told you half my story, yet,” said 
Burge. “ My father’s only brother came to America 
when a young man, and made a fortune in the real 
estate business right here in Boston. He never re- 
turned to his home in England, and when a severe sick- 
ness came upon him, he wrote to my father, begging 
him to come and see him, and bring his wife and boy. 

The boy, especially, he wanted to see, asking it 
almost as a dying request. 

“ My mother was not well enough to take the trip at 
the time, but I was a sturdy little chap three years old, 
and father decided to take me with him. 

“ You know the rest. Jack. My father was lost, al- 
most within sight of the city he had hoped to visit. 
That same night his brother, the wealthy uncle I had 
never seen, died and left his fortune to me. It was 
supposed, of course, that I had perished. All that was 
just fourteen years ago this month,” added the boy. 

It is all so wonderful,” returned Jack, that I don’t 
think I have quite grasped it yet.” 


300 


JACK TEN field's STAR 


“ Oh, yes ! ” cried Burge, “ and there is another 
thing I must tell you. I think I know where your 
present of one hundred dollars came from." 

“ Really, Burge ? " said the other, greatly inter- 
ested. 

“We had a letter from Captain Her ford the other 
day, and he asked particularly about you. He said that 
just before he left Seattle on this last trip he had a 
visit from John Seers, the brother of the man whose 
skeleton we found. He wanted to know your address, 
and the Captain told him that anything sent care of Mr. 
De Wolf would reach you. So there’s one mystery 
cleared," laughed Burge. 

“ But I don’t understand why he should have sent 
it to me ! " cried Jack. 

“ Oh, I do," said the other. “ He’d taken quite a 
fancy to you that night in the woods, anybody could 
see that. Don’t you remember, he said you reminded 
him of his brother when a boy ? " 

“ Yes, I remember, Burge, but still I cannot see why 
he should have done it." 

“ Captain Herford wrote us in his letter," said 
Burge, “ that he had sold one of the claims he had in- 
herited through the brother’s death, and made a great 
deal of money." 


THANKSGIVING 


301 


Well, I must write and thank him,^’ said Jack 
quickly. 

But Burge hastily rejoined, “ No, you can’t do that, 
because he disappeared as suddenly as he came, and no 
one knows anything about him.” 

At this point the boys started to retrace their steps 
to the cottage, just as Terry made his appearance, and 
blew the old horn. 

Have you been talking with Terry recently?” 
asked Burge. 

‘‘No,” returned the other; “is there anything to 
explain about him ? ” 

Burge laughed. “ Nothing to explain, but he is 
improving wonderfully in his language. He uses very 
little slang. When it does crop out, he apologizes, and 
he really says ‘ this ’ and ‘ that.’ ” 

“ Good ! I am glad to hear it,” replied Jack. “ Mr. 
De Wolf says there is the making of a man in Terry.” 

“ Mr. De Wolf,” laughed Burge, “ is Terry’s ideal 
of all that is perfection here below.” 

There was a real Thanksgiving odor when the boys 
re-entered the cottage, and a sound of chatter and 
laughter that was good to hear. 

The little back parlor, with its straight-backed chairs, 
the tiny table in the center, just large enough to hold 


302 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


the family Bible, the oval mirror, hung from the wall 
with a red cord, the quaint pictures on the walls of very 
white ships and very green water, the huge shells on 
the floor, the stuffed parrot in a corner, and over all the 
laughter of happy voices, made a picture not soon to 
be forgotten. 

But Nora had announced dinner, and the Captain 
had made a droll speech that caused a ripple of mirth, 
and he had bowed low to the little Englishwoman, and 
offered her his arm, and Mr. De Wolf had followed his 
example and escorted Mrs. Tebbett, straight and slim, 
in her best black silk and white apron, and Burge had 
made his way to Nan, who smiled and blushed, and 
Jack and Terry had followed the merry group. 

To be sure, they had only a step to walk to the table, 
but it was taken with all the ceremony possible under 
the circumstances. And the dinner! It took Nora’s 
deft fingers to have the turkey just the right brown, 
and sweet and juicy, with an oyster dressing that Terry 
afterwards whispered to Jack was “ nicer than pie.” 
And they had cranberry jelly and “all the fixin’s” deli- 
ciously flavored; and because it wasn’t a fashionable 
dinner party, but just a wholesome, old-fashioned one, 
everybody praised the good things. 

The Captain told stories that brought tears of 


THANKSGIVING 


303 


laughter to Nannie’s eyes, and he insisted on Mr. De 
Wolf’s making a speech, and then declared that the 
greatest speech he had ever heard was made by a deaf 
and dumb gentleman. “ An’ by the way, I didn’t hear 
it — I saw it ! ” 

“ Great, indeed,” said Mrs. Tebbett. I want ter 
know.” 

“ In its results, Sarah, it was remarkable, for when 
he began there was only one dumb man in the party, 
but when he got through there were twelve.” 

When the pumpkin pie and plum pudding were in- 
troduced, Jack artlessly remarked that Terry was not 
doing justice to either, and this led to the story of the 
pie for breakfast, to the amusement of Mrs. Ormiston 
and Mr. De Wolf, though Captain Tebbett declared 
that there were worse things than pie for breakfast, 
and he, for one, would prefer a good “ slab o’ mince pie 
ter frogs’ legs any time ; it was more satisfyin’ an’ more 
fillin’.” 

Frogs’ legs! ” exclaimed Sarah, “ Whoever heard 
tell o’ such a heathenish dish ? I can’t b’lieve any white 
man would eat ’em.” 

Whereupon the Captain told his spouse that her be- 
liefs were bounded by Horn Point. But there must be 
an end to all pleasant gatherings, and so there was to 
this happy little party. 


304 


JACK TENFIELD^S STAR 


The guests had left the small seaside cottage in 
which the Thanksgiving spirit had reigned as it did not 
in many a pretentious mansion. 

Nannie was on her way back to boarding school. 
Terry was joyous in the prospect of a position as clerk, 
promised by his employer, while Jack was about to 
make his home with Burge, or, to call him by his right 
name, Arthur Ormiston, and his mother. 

Here we must leave them, at least for the present, 
although our hero is just beginning the work that he 
laid out for himself for the future. 

Do you think he will be successful ? 

Any boy, who is honest and manly and painstaking, 
is bound to succeed. 

Jack Tenfield had all these qualities, and one other 
I have tried to show in my story, that is, good Yankee 
pluck. 


THE END 


Hortense— A Difficult Child 

By EDNA A. FOSTER 

Editor Children’s Page “ Youth’s Companion ” 


Illustrated by HARY AYER llmo Cloth Price, $1.00 


“ It is an interesting study of the develop- 
ment of an uncommon little girl. She is 
thoroughly natural, and the situations in 
which she is placed are seldom strained. 
She has no mother, and circumstances 
place her in the care of an older girl who 
also has no mother. How one child may 
be trained while another may be only taught, 
is made very clear. It is an attractive little 
story quite worth the reading.” — The Uni- 
versalist Leader^ Boston. 

“ It is a book which girls from eight to 
eighteen will read with interest and which 
careful guardians and mothers will be glad to have them read.” — Times, 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 

“We w'ould strongly advise all mothers of growing boys and girls to 
hasten to procure a copy of this delightful book for the home library — 
and, above all, to make a point of reading it carefully themselves before 
turning it over to the juveniles.” — Designer, New York, N. Y. 

“ It is a truthful and discerning study of a gifted child, and should 
be read by all who have childen under their care. It is probably the 
best new girl’s book of the year.” — Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 

“ The book is excellent, whether view’ed as a story for the children, 
or as a suggestive study for those who have to do with the education 
of children.” — Zion's Herald, Boston. 

“ The story may be commended as first-rate in construction, and 
wdth a happy style of teaching moral lessons.” — Chicago Journal. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers. 



LEE Si. SHEPAR^D, PiablisKers, Boston 


MY FRIEND JIM 

A STORY OF REAL BOYS AND FOR THEBf 

By MARTHA JAflES 

Square 1 2rao Cloth Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill 200 pages $i.oc 

As a sub-title to her latest book 
for young people, My Friend 
Jim,” Martha James has added 
the line ‘‘ h Story of Real Boys 
and for Them,” and it is a real 
book in the best sense of the 
word. As a testimony as to what 
one real boy at least thinks of it 
it may not be out of place to re- 
late a little incident which oc- 
curred Christmas week. 

Having missed one of the boys 
of the household, a lad given 
more to baseball and shinney 
than books, the writer was surprised to find him lying at 
full-length on a big rug before the fire in the library, deep 
in a book. 

'‘Hello ! what are you reading?” was the exclamatory 
question. 

" ' My Friend Jim,* ’* was the brief reply. 

" Is it good ? ” 

" Well, I guess j it’s a dandy ! ” and with an impatient 
gesture that indicated that he did not want to be further 
interrupted, he turned his back toward his questioner and 
buried his face in his book. 

Jim is a country boy, strong and healthy in mind and 
body, though poor and humble, whose companionship is 
the means of improving physically, as well as broadening 
in mind and character, the invalid son of a man of means 
forced to remain abroad on business. Brandt, the city 
boy, spends the summer in the country near Jim’s home, 
and the simple adventures and pleasures of the lads form 
the interest of the story. — Brooklyn Citizen, 



LEE and SHEPARD Boston 


FOLLOWING THE BALL 

First Volume of the Phillips Exeter Series 

By A. T, DUDLEY, author of ** Making the Nine ” 


Illustrated by Charles Copeland. 12mo 
Cloth with gold and colors. Price, $1.25 


“A seasonable school and football- story, by a 
writer who knows the game and knows boys as 
well. It is of the ‘ Tom Brown ’ type, an uplift- 
mg as well as a lively story.”— Advance, Chicago^ 

“Apart from the excellent narrative of athletic 
competition, ‘ Following the Ball ’ is to be com- 
mended as a wholesome and truthful account of 
life in a representative American school, which 
seems to identify itself as Phillips Exeter.” — 
Springfield {Mass.) Republican. 

“ ‘ Following the Ball ’ is a fine story for boys, 
bringing in enough athletics to charm them, and 
enough sound teaching to do them good and in- 
terest their parents.” — Christian Advocate, New 
York, N.Y. 

“ It is a clean, wholesome, inspiring story, and the boys will like it.” — 
American Boy, Detroit, Mich. 

“Mingled with the story of football is another and higher endeavor, 
giving the book the best of moral tone.” — Chicago Record-Herald. 

“The story is a breezy one, fresh and healthy in tone, with much 
about football and other sports that will be read with zest by the average 
Brooklyn Citizen. 

“ The book is thoroughly American; it holds up high ideals of man- 
hood and scholarship, and it will not fail to stimulate and encourage 
boys and young men.” — Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, New York. 

“A well-told school tale with football as its chief point of interest. 

. . . The manliness of the story will win parent’s approval.” — Congre- 
gationalist, Boston, Mass. 



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Lr£E SHEPARD, PublisKers, Boston 




MAKING THE NINE 

Second Volume of the Phillips Exeter Series 

By A. T, DUDLEY, author of “ Following the Ball 


Illustrated by Charles Copeland and 
by Exeter Views. Price, $1.25 


The cordial reception of “ Following the 
Ball ” has led to this second book, in 
which baseball is sufficiently prominent 
to suggest the title. It is a pleasure 
for a publisher to present such a book 
as this, in every way worthy to continue 
the success of the previous volume. 
The special points of excellence are that 
the story is lively and worth telling, and 
the life presented is that of areal school, 
interesting, diversified and full of strik- 
ing incidents, while the characters are 
true and consistent types of American 
athletics are technically correct, abound- 
soundly and wisely given, and the moral 
tone is high and set by action rather than preaching. The author’s 
style is so good that no less an authority than Professor Went- 
worth, of Exeter, said of “ Following the Ball,” that it might serve 
well for a text-book in English. 

“ Mr. Dudley’s boys are real American boys, and though they are not faultless, 
they show genuine manly traits of character, and are not too good for human 
nature’s daily food.” — Boston Beacon. 



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Young Heroes of Wire and Rail 

By ALVAH MILTON KERR 
Illustrated by H. C. EDWARDS, J. C. LEYENDECKER, and others 

12mo Cloth Price $1,25 


This is a book of wonderfully vivid stories of 
railroad life, portraying the heroism of trainmen, 
telegraph operators, and despatchers, each story 
a complete drama in itself, with thrilling climax, 
and yet too truthful to be classed as sensational. 
It is by Alvah Milton Kerr, formerly a train- 
despatcher of long experience, and now a justly 
noted WTiter of railroad stories, who has brought 
together from many sources the most striking 
acts of heroism performed during the last quar- 
ter of a century of railroad activity, and has cast 
them in stories of singularly intense interest. 

Most of these stories first appeared in 
“McClure’s Magazine,” “The Youth’s Com- 
panion,” “ Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post ” 
and “ Success ; ” w'hich fact is a very strong guarantee of merit. No 
one who begins reading these stories in this finely printed, illustrated, 
and bound book will be likely to allow anything to interfere with their 
completion. 

“ An ideal book for a young boy is ‘ Young Heroes of Wire and Rail,’ and, 
indeed, the older folks who begin to read will continue to the end.” — Episcopal 
Recorder^ Philadelphia. 

“ The tone of the work is healthful and inspiring.” — Boston Herald. 

“ They teach more bravery, unselfishness and forethought in a page than can 
be imparted in an hour of ‘ethical’ instruction in school.” — New York Times. 

“ The tone of the stories is fine, showing unexpected bravery and courage in 
many of the characters.” — Delineator., New York. 

“ A book that not only yields entertainment and healthy excitement, but 
reveals some of the possibilities always confronting railroad workers and train 
despatchers.” — Christian Register, Boston. 

“ They are calculated to inspire boys to become manly, and incidentally they 
contain considerable valuable information.” — Newark News. 



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American Boys’ Life of 
Theodore Roosevelt 

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER 325 pages Illustrated 
from photographs $t»25 


E ver since the enormous 
success of Mr. Strale- 
meyer’s “ American Boys’ Life 
of William McKinley” there 
has been an urgent demand 
that he follow the volume with 
one on the life of our present 
President, and this has now 
been done with a care and 
a faithfulness certain to win 
immediate appreciation every- 
where. 

The book covers the whole 
life of our honored executive 
step by step, as schoolboy, col- 
lege student, traveler, author, 
State assemblyman. Civil Ser- 
vice and Police Commissioner, Governor of New York, 
as a leader of the Rough Riders in Cuba, as Vice-Presi- 
dent, and finally as President. Many chapters have also 
been devoted to Mr. Roosevelt’s numerous adventures as 
a hunter and as a ranchman (true stories which are bound 
to be dear to the heart of all boys who love the strenuous 
life), and full particulars are given of the daring battles 
for Cuban liberty, in which our worthy President, as 
Lieutenant- Colonel of the Rough Riders, took such a 
conspicuous part. 

The Appendix contains a Chronology of Theodore 
Roosevelt, and also brief extracts from some of his most 
famous speeches and addresses. 

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THE FAMOUS ‘‘OLD GLORY SERIES'^ 

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER 

Aiiihor of The Bound to Succeed Series f “ The Ship and Shore 
Series^' ** Colonial Series^^^ ^^Pan-American Series f etc. 

Six voittmcs Cloth Illustrated Price per volume $J«25 

UNDER DEWEY AT MANILA 

Or The War Fortunes of a Castaway 

A YOUNG VOLUNTEER IN CUBA 
Or Fighting for the Single Staf 

FIGHTING IN CUBAN WATERS 

Or Under Schley on the Brooklyn 
UNDER OTIS IN THE PHILIPPINES 
Or A Young Officer in the Tropics 

THE CAMPAIGN OF THE JUNGLE 
Or Under Lawton through Luzon 

UNDER MACARTHUR IN LUZON 
Or Last Battles in the Philippines 

“A boy once addicted to Stratemeyer stays by him.”* — The Living 
Church. 

“ The boys’ delight — the ‘ Old Glory Series.* ” — The Christian Ad- 
vocate^ New York. 

“ Stratemeyer’s style suits the boys.” — John Terhune, Supt. of Pub- 
lic Instruction^ Bergen Co., New Jersey. 

“ Mr. Stratemeyer is in a class by himself when it comes to writing 
about American heroes, their brilliant doings on land and sea.” — Times, 
Boston. 

“Mr. Stratemeyer has written a series of books which, while, histori- 
cally correct and embodying the most important features of the Spanish- 
American War and the rebellion of the Filipinos, ar». sufficiently inter- 
woven with fiction to render them most entertaining to young readers,’* 
— The Call, San Francisco. 



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LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, 

BOSTON 


THE COLONIAL SERIES 

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER 

Author of Pan-American Series f “ Old Glory Series f “ Great 
American Industries Series f ^ American Boys' 
Biographical Series," etc. 


Four volumes Cloth IHustratcd by A» B. Shutc 
Price per volume^ $J«25 


WITH WASHINGTON IN THE WEST 
Of A Soldier Boy's Battles in the Wilderness 

MARCHING ON NIAGARA 
Of The Soldier Boys of the Old Frontier 

AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL 
Of A Soldier Boy's Final Victory 

ON THE TRAIL OF PONTIAC 
Or The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio 

“ Mr. Stratemeyer has put his best work into the ‘ Colonial 
Series.’ ” — Christian Register, Boston, 

“A series that doesn’t fall so very far short of being history 
itself.” — Boston Courier. 

“ The tales of war are incidental to the dramatic adventures of 
two boys, so well told that the historical facts are all the better 
remembered.” — Boston Globe. 

“ Edward Stratemeyer has in many volumes shown himself 
master of the art of producing historic studies in the pleasing 
story form.” — Minneapolis Journal. 

“ The author, Edward Stratemeyer, has used his usual care in 
matters of historical detail and accuracy, and gives a splendid 
picture of the times in general.” — Milwaukee Sentinel. 

“Told by one who knows how to write so as to interest boys, 
while still having a care as to accuracy. — Commercial Advertiser, 
New York. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price by 

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